Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James got into a somewhat heated interaction during a Los Angeles Lakers game last month over the First Take host’s comments about Bronny James.
The interaction was almost secondary to the narratives and discussions it sparked, with neither party emerging from it looking remarkably well.
Predictably, Smith spent much of the aftermath defending himself and his comments. Later, when James appeared on The Pat McAfee Show to air his grievances about Smith, the ESPN host fired back with a 15-minute rant of his own.
While things have cooled down, that doesn’t mean Smith has stopped caring. If anything, he’ll continue to try and make it clear he is in the right against the tyranny of LeBron James.
While the tense meeting between LeBron and Smith never came close to anything physical, Smith thinks he would have been well-protected.
“I know a lot of people think that, and I really didn’t want to talk about it because I don’t want to talk about him. But the bottom line is this. People could say I get my ass kicked. Go ahead. Did you see who I walked in with?” Smith asked when asked what would have happened if he took a swing at James by Complex’s Speedy Morman.
“[My bodyguard] was 10 feet away. So whatever’s going to happen would have to happen quick. Because that brother right there that is 330 plus us, that is my bodyguard, not to mention a whole bunch of other people that I usually have around me. I really have very little to be worried about.
“Anybody could get got, and I’m fully aware of that. But one of the other things on a very, very serious note, everywhere I go, ESPN knows. Local police, FBI, everything. He’s just with me. But I’m always guarded because I’m an investment. We got people out here that’s got people protecting them, and they bringing in a little paper. I make a lot of money for the mouse. So if people want to think that I’m just walking around and I don’t have anybody around me. He’s just like my blood. That’s like my brother right there.”
Smith later implied that he wasn’t scared of James getting physical with him and would have responded accordingly.
“I don’t have to fight at this particular moment in time,” said Smith. “I think it’s pathetic that people look at me at age 57 and ask me, not you, but I’m talking about people coming at me like that. I’m 57 freaking years old. I’m not 37 or 27. I’m 57. But now you all want to step to me. I got it. Feel free. Do what you have to do. All I know is this. Again, and I’ve truly meant that. All my life I’ve been that way. I’m not sitting up here telling you that I’ll kick somebody’s ass. What I’m telling you is that I’m not going to sit by and let somebody just put their hands on me. I don’t give a shit who you are. Maybe the one exception might have been Mike Tyson in this heyday. I might have been like, I’m sorry, what I did.”
We’ll leave you with a brief reminder that James, whatever you think of him, is 6’9″, clocks in around 250 pounds, and is a professional athlete. Stephen A. Smith is… none of those things.