Michelle Beadle has had her fair share of complaints about ESPN over the years. She has also had a longstanding feud with LeBron James. So when it comes to LeBron James’ ongoing feud with Stephen A. Smith, she is put in nearly an impossible situation in terms of who to defend.
The drama surrounding James and Smith stems from an on-court confrontation during a game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers in early March.
From there, it has been a war of words over the internet between the two, with Smith in particular blasting James any chance he gets on his podcast, the Stephen A. Smith Show, as of late.
Perhaps the most surprising thing to come from the beef between the two came when James made a guest appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, putting the likes of Smith and Brian Windhorst on blast on their own network.
The animosity between Smith and James continues to grow by the day with no end in sight. And while Michelle Beadle is probably the last person you would expect to voluntarily defend either, she did weigh in on the matter on Thursday’s edition of Run it Back on FanDuel TV, essentially putting both of them on blast for how ridiculous the drama really is.
“First of all, this feels like a WWE situation,” said Beadle. “It’s Pat McAfee, who is now one of the faces of the WWE, he is hosting this. LeBron James goes on there for over an hour. On the very network where the dude he confronted in public also is the highest-paid guy on the network. All of it feels fake to me. Within five minutes of this becoming public, Stephen A. Smith is now putting out videos. I will say this, LeBron calling Stephen A.’s situation basically another Taylor Swift tour. Chef’s kiss, he is. That video is the greatest thing that has ever happened to Stephen A. because he has milked it on every network and outlet and continues to talk about it.
“When you start talking about how you were going to get physical. Bro, we’ve all seen the boxing video. Don’t say stuff like that. It’s bad, it’s not a good look. LeBron had a couple of zingers on that as well. What you are asking me to do right now, Chandler (Parsons), is choose between two people I do not want to choose between. So I kind of feel like we have entered a really weird realm.”
Michelle Beadle GOES OFF on LeBron’s interview with Pat McAfee and the Stephen A. Smith saga 🗣️
“This feels like a WWE situation…you’re asking me to chose between two people I don’t want to choose. … It’s laughable but not in a fun way.”@MichelleDBeadle | @ChandlerParsons pic.twitter.com/F5a4UhG5MD
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) March 27, 2025
One person Beadle was more than happy to defend in all of this is ESPN insider Brian Windhorst, whom James bashed by claiming that Windhorst believes that the two are “best friends,” even though James doesn’t view him that way whatsoever.
“I think where LeBron lost a lot of people in yesterday’s interview… Because Stephen A., who cares, right? But when you go after Brian Windhorst, who has been covering him since he was a kid. I didn’t really get it. It felt unprovoked, unnecessary, a bit bullying, I guess, if you will. And you see quickly how much Brian Windhorst is loved in this industry. I’ve seen everyone, from guys on NBA Radio to Amin Elhassan. Everyone is picking up for Windy. Because why are we picking on Brian Windhorst?”
Beadle, like many around the sports media space, appears eager for the drama between the two to come to an end as soon as possible. But given how strong-willed both Smith and James have proven to be and just how much has come from both sides, expecting this to reach a calm conclusion appears to be wishful thinking.