Los Angeles Lakers rookie guard Bronny James let his game do the talking on his first G League assignment since the public feud between his father, LeBron James, and ESPN’s “First Take” host Stephen A. Smith.
Bronny responded with 16 points, five rebounds, six assists and one steal to help the South Bay Lakers notch their fourth straight win with a 121-103 rout of the Motor City Cruise on Saturday, March 8, at UCLA Health Training Center.
Center Solomon Young led South Bay with 24 points and eight rebounds while forward Cole Swider added 17 points.
Former Rutgers star Ron Harper, Jr. and Daniss Jenkins pace the City Cruise with 18 points apiece.
Bronny shot 5-of-9 from the field and went 2-for-5 from beyond the arc.
LeBron Confronted Stephen A. Smith
Following the Lakers’ 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks on March 6, LeBron’s heated interaction with Smith on the sidelines during a game break went viral.
The veteran ESPN reporter, who just signed a five-year, $100 million contract to stay with the cable network, addressed the issue on the March 7 episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show.”
“He approached me during the game, and he said, ‘stop [expletive] with my son,’” Smith said. “I said, ‘what?’ … And I saw how furious he was. I said ‘we can talk about it later.’ He said ‘nah, [expletive] that, stop [expletive] with my son, that’s my son.’ I said ‘alright dawg, fine’ and he walked away, that’s all he said. I knew what he was talking about. I’ve spoken about this before…A few players were upset at me about that. I think one of those players was Draymond Green, who I haven’t spoken to since.”
The public spat stemmed from comments Smith had previously made about LeBron and Bronny, the 55th overall pick in last year’s NBA draft.
Smith also addressed the issue during the March 7 episode of “First Take” on ESPN.
“That was LeBron James coming up to me, unexpectedly, I might add,” Smith said on his ESPN show. “To confront me about making sure that I mind what I say about his son. I can’t repeat the words, because they’re not suitable for FCC airwaves…That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent. That was a father. And I can’t sit here and feel angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard.”
Stephen A. Smith’s Comments That Ticked off LeBron
Smith’s previous insinuation of nepotism which helped Bronny’s NBA career did not sit well with LeBron.
“I’m really, really trying to be as respectful as I possibly can be toward LeBron James, one of the top two or three players in the history of basketball,” Smith said on January 29 episode of the “First Take.” “I am pleading with LeBron James, as a father. Stop this. Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad. The first game of the season … father-son duo playing in an NBA game for the first time, an absolutely, positively wonderful story.
“And then reality sets in. We love what we’re seeing from (Bronny) in the G League, because that’s where you belong, as you hone your skills and you get better and you legitimately earn, which I believe he has the potential to do. I am rooting for Bronny James … he’s a wonderful kid, I wish him nothing but the best.”
Bronny is averaging 1.4 points on 25.8% field goal shooting in 4.2 minutes across 18 games the NBA. He has scored in his last five games in the NBA, including a career-high nine points in eight minutes against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 12.
In the G League, Bronny is averaging 21.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 39.3% from the 3-point line.
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