Just when we thought the feud between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith couldn’t get any worse, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar went on “The Pat McAfee Show” to throw some shade at the brash “First Take” host.
When James was asked about his “situation” with Smith, James jokingly compared Smith’s current media presence to a “Taylor Swift tour run.”
James continued, teasing his interviewer, “It started off with I didn’t want to address it… But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it. If it’s one person that couldn’t wait until the video had dropped so you can address it’s your ass.”
The future Hall of Famer made clear that he has no issue with sports commentators, including Stephen A. Smith, providing analysis and critique of players’ on-court performance. This is a natural and expected part of their job, he said. His problem with Smith arose due to the personal nature of Smith’s comments, which went beyond professional analysis and delved into personal attacks, which triggered the confrontation between the two.
He jokingly added, “He’s gonna be happy as hell. He’s gonna be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him. He’s gonna get home and grab some ice cream out of the f***ing freezer and sit in his chair in his tighty whities.”
The frustration from the NBA’s all-time leading scorer stems from comments Smith made about James’ son, Bronny during a Jan. 29 episode of “First Take,” where he said, “I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: stop this. Stop this. We all know Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”
During the interview, Lebron James also took shots at Smith’s co-worker, Brian Windhorst, who is an insider who often has a lot of information relating to the Lakers superstar.
“I’ve seen Brian Windhorst on one of these shows not too long ago,” said James. “This guy says he’s like my f***ing best friend. These guys are just weird.”