As it turns out, Stephen A. Smith wasn’t the only ESPN employee to feel LeBron James’ wrath on ESPN airwaves on Wednesday.
While James breaking his silence regarding his ongoing feud with Smith garnered the bulk of the attention from his hour-long interview on The Pat McAfee Show, the 4-time MVP also took a swipe at ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst. During a conversation regarding comparisons to Michael Jordan, James took an unprovoked shot at Windhorst, who has covered him throughout the bulk of his 22-year NBA career.
“I see a lot of s**t too. Like I see Brian Windhorst on one of these shows not too long ago,” James began before being cut off by McAfee.
“You guys played together in high school, right?” McAfee asked jokingly in reference to James and Windhorst’s shared alma mater of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron.
“Yeah, this guy who says he’s like my f**king best friend,” James said. “These guys are just weird.”
The four-time NBA champion proceeded to recall Windhorst stating that James wears No. 23 because of Jordan—which he admitted is true—before taking issue with the ESPN reporter’s claim that he signed with Nike coming out of high school for the same reason.
“No the f*ck I didn’t,” James said. “I signed with Nike because I got a hell of a signing bonus, and they gave me a seven-year, $90 million contract.”
Regardless of the role Jordan did or didn’t play in James signing with the Swoosh, the jab at Windhorst felt oddly personal. Especially considering that the fellow Akron native has covered him dating back to his high school career and throughout the majority of his NBA career before taking on a more national role at the Worldwide Leader in recent years.
It’s also worth noting that at no point has Windhorst claimed to be James’ “best friend”—at least not publicly—and it’s hard to fathom he would have done so privately at any point either. Over the years, the former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter has openly acknowledged that James has mixed feelings toward him, including on Wednesday morning when he conceded he wouldn’t be able to land an hour-long interview with the 40-year-old forward the way McAfee did.
As is the case with Smith, the larger context to all of this is that James wasn’t just taking a dig at an ESPN employee but was doing so on ESPN airwaves. But while his issues with Smith are at least understandable, the shot at Windhorst appeared to come out of left field, seemingly indicating a deeper rift between two of Akron’s favorite sons than was previously known about.