The ongoing beef between Lakers star LeBron James and ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith reached a fever pitch on March 26. First, James went on “The Pat McAfee Show” and blasted Smith for making things “personal” by using his son, Bronny James, as a vehicle to criticize him.
“When you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household but protect the players,” James warned Smith.
James would also indirectly call Smith an attention-seeker.
“I know he’s going to be smiling from ear to ear, and happy as hell when he hears me talking about him,” James said of Smith. “He’s going to get home and grab some ice cream out of the [expletive] freezer and sit in his chair in his tighty-whities on the couch. Relax, bro. Like, relax, like seriously.”
Smith responded on his podcast on March 26 by calling James “a liar” while explaining why the Lakers star was twisting the truth to fit his narrative.
“His a– lies a lot,” Smith said of James.
LeBron James Gets Called Out
Smith said James “is full of it,” before explaining the circumstances behind his initial confrontation with James on March 6.
“In this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he is a liar,” Smith said of James. “And he went on national television… and he lied again.”
Smith added that he was taken aback when James “rolled up on me” after a Lakers game on March 6. He then noted that he wouldn’t back down from James if the latter provoked him physically.
“I would have immediately swung on him,” he said, while accepting he’d probably lose any physical confrontation with the NBA star.
“The real point at hand is this: LeBron James continues to lie,” he continued. “He hoodwinked you all into thinking that he was upset about criticism about his son…. This passive-aggressiveness, and the two-facedness, smile in your face and dig you behind the back… Which is why I don’t like him. And he don’t like me.
“But it doesn’t stop me from being fair and calling it like I see it. Because there’s one person in this ordeal that’s telling the truth, and it’s me.”
Upset Over GOAT Debate?
Smith took it a step further on March 26, suggesting on ESPN’s “First Take” that James harbors a grudge against him since the ESPN analyst has Michael Jordan as his GOAT.
“This man is in his feelings,” Smiths aid of James. “I wonder why. Could it because I don’t believe you’re the GOAT? Because I’ll never believe you’re the GOAT? Because I have you number two at all-time. Do I have to have ESPN and First Take put up the ticker tape and say yo could you put that up there please. Great father. Great husband. Great philanthropist. Great businessman. Great director. Great producer. Great host. Great basketball player. Great leader.”
“I mean my god I have done everything but put diapers and a bib on this brother. But it ain’t enough because one thing matters to him and one thing only and that’s him being recognized as the greatest of all times. Well, you’re not in my book. That belongs to Michael Jordan.”
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