Lebron James and Stephen A. Smith have continued their back and forth interaction a month after their initial argument.
As many of you know, Lebron approached Stephen A. during an away game for comments that he had made regarding his son Bronny (Lebron James Jr). On January 29th, Stephen A made comments insinuating that Bronny was only in the NBA because of his father. Bronny, who spent a year at USC, was drafted in the 2024 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round as the 55th pick.
While many have stated that he is only in the league because of his father, others have said that Bronny has worked hard to achieve his goal of being in the NBA.
Lebron stated “ Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport and criticize players about what they do. That is your job to criticize, or to be in a position where if a guy’s not performing, you know? That’s all part of the game. But when you take it and you get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household, but protect the players.”
Stephen A. has brought up the altercation on multiple occasions even stating on his show First Take “I would’ve immediately swung on him. Immediately.” Of course he said this on the implication that Lebron had put his hands on him first.
This interaction has gone further as Stephen A. brought up that Lebron wasn’t in attendance at Kobe Bryant’s memorial “I suggest that he be happy with the things that I haven’t brought up. I never brought up really, and never really discussed, why you were not at Kobe Bryant’s memorial service…” This was a false statement and Stephen A. even apologized for this false report.
There doesn’t appear to be any push by either party to rectify the situation, but the basketball world is surely hoping they are both able to put their differences aside to at least be cordial with one another.
The Lakers next game will be on Saturday, March 29th at 7:00 PM vs the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis, Tennessee. First Take airs daily Monday through Friday with the live episode being 10AM until noon.
