We’re going on the third straight week of drama between LeBron James and Stephen A Smith, and neither side shows any signs of slowing down.
On Tuesday, Smith joined the Gil’s Arena podcast live alongside his new First Take panelist Gilbert Arenas. The group chopped it up with Smith on all things basketball before finally getting into his beef with James, which took on new life when James confronted Smith in-person during a game at Crypto.com Arena last week.
This marked (at least) the third time that Smith engaged on the situation, after opening Friday’s First Take with a 10-minute monologue and discussing it at length on his own podcast over the weekend. Only this time, Smith was far more cutting and dismissive of James than in his previous retorts.
“I thought it was weak. I thought it was some bulls***,” Smith said.
As Smith continued, he explained that after James brought up criticism of his son, Bronny, Smith asked to discuss it postgame. Once James refused, Smith said he recalled a moment earlier in the game when he locked eyes with Bronny and began to believe that James had noticed it, too.
That’s why, Smith said, James stepped away from a timeout to address Smith directly during live action.
According to Smith, his bosses at ESPN encouraged him to respond the following day on First Take.
“Most cats talk about this stuff, I cover it,” Smith added on Gil’s Arena of his perspective on LeBron and Bronny. “Because of that, I’m hearing all of this, ‘we’re just going to go along with it.'”
As others have pointed out, the Jameses opened Bronny up to a new level of criticism by orchestrating Bronny’s arrival in the pros and situating him alongside his father in the NBA’s most scrutinized organization. As for LeBron’s problems with Smith for making the issue personal by referencing his own children, Smith believes it was fair game because LeBron has played off that relationship with big, public moments and in how he has helped Bronny build a career.
“The only reason I said ‘as a dad’ is because you marketed yourself as his dad to help him get into the league,” Smith said, noting that other former athletes like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dwyane Wade did not so brazenly work the system for their children.
This beef was a mess from the moment James started it. Calling out a media member on-court during a game is absurd, as is the amount of time Smith has dedicated to his response.
Both sides may have a point, but Smith is assuredly going to get the final word.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.