ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith responded after his heated courtside interaction with LeBron James went viral.
James, 40, got in the face of Smith, 57, after the Los Angeles Lakers’ overtime victory over the New York Knicks at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena on Thursday, March 6, which spread quickly all over social media.
On the Friday, March 7, episode of ESPN’s First Take, Smith explained the confrontation was about LeBron’s son Bronny James.
“That was LeBron James coming up to me, unexpectedly I might add, to confront me about making sure that I mind what I say about his son,” Smith explained. “Can’t repeat the words because they ain’t suited for FCC airwaves. That’s what he was doing.”
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Bronny, 20, was drafted by the Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, a move which Smith has vocally criticized.
“I thought long and hard about this over the last few hours, because I had no intention of talking about this at all,” Smith said. “The reason why is because it was a one-on-one — I wouldn’t say it was a conversation — but it was a one-on-one confrontation. Then I wake up and everybody from ESPN and my agent and everybody else was sending me that this thing had gone viral.”
Smith said talking about the incident became “unavoidable” given the attention it attracted.
“That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me,” Smith continued. “That was a parent. That was a father. I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard. By all accounts, he’s obviously a wonderful family man and father. He cares very, very deeply about his son.”
Smith said LeBron “clearly took exception to some of the things he heard me say.”
In January, Smith was “pleading” with LeBron to stop trying to make his son’s professional basketball dreams happen. “We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad,” Smith said on First Take at the time.
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Smith said he would have taken a phone call from LeBron to address his grievances, “but that is not what he elected to do.”
“I have nothing but the best wishes for Bronny James,” Smith said on Friday. “I wish him nothing but the best. I hope that he flourishes into an NBA star.”
Smith explained his issue was really with LeBron himself and the “pressure” he put on Bronny to succeed in his shadow.
“I could be a bit more outspoken about it,” Smith concluded. “But to be quite honest with you, to be in that moment, to have LeBron look at me the way that he did, for me to be a father of two daughters, for me to know how much love fathers have for their children, and for me to hear what he had to say, it was all about his son.”
