LeBron James took a savage swipe at Stephen A. Smith over their heated courtside confrontation.
Cameras caught the ESPN personality and NBA star in a heated exchange of words during the Los Angeles Lakers’ matchup against Smith’s beloved New York Knicks on March 6.
And, while Smith has addressed the altercation repeatedly over the past few weeks, James has kept silent on his issue with the sports analyst – until Wednesday.
James finally broke his silence on the courtside bust-up in a brutal takedown of Smith – and on the presenter’s own network, no less.
During a special appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, he took aim at Smith for incessantly airing their discussion to the public.
‘He [Smith] is on a Taylor Swift tour run right now,’ James, the NBA’s all-time leading point scorer, quipped.
LeBron James took a savage swipe at Stephen A. Smith over their courtside confrontation
Cameras caught the NBA star having a heated exchange with Smith at a March 6 Lakers game
‘It started off with, “I wasn’t going to address it. I didn’t want to address it but since the video came out I feel the need to address it.”‘ James continued, referencing Smith’s initial comments on the incident on First Take the day after the confrontation.
‘Are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait for the video to drop, it was your a**. Seriously?’
When Smith first addressed the clash on the ESPN show, he revealed that James confronted him about remarks the analyst had made about his son, Bronny.
The analyst maintained that the four-time NBA champion had misconstrued his previous criticism on Bronny’s performance in the league but James swiftly shutdown that argument.
‘He completely missed the whole point,’ he added. ‘Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job to criticize or to be in a position where if a guy isn’t performing. That’s all part of the game.
‘When you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my household but to protect the players.’
But James’s brutal takedown didn’t end there, he continued to eviscerate Smith as he mockingly accused him of being overjoyed to be publicly mentioned by the basketball legend.
‘And I know he’s going to be happy as hell, he’s going to be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him,’ James added ‘He’s gonna get home and grab some ice cream out of the freezer and sit in his chair in his tighty whities. Relax, bro.’
Smith addressed the courtside altercation on ‘First Take’ the morning after the incident
After their courtside confrontation went viral, Smith discussed the exchange on ESPN. Despite suggesting their conversation shouldn’t have happened in the public eye, he conceded that the basketball legend approached him as a ‘father’ on the night.
‘That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent. That was a father. And I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard,’ he said.
‘By all accounts, he’s obviously a wonderful family man and a wonderful father who cares very, very deeply about his son.’
He continued: ‘I’m not blaming him one bit… but it’s my job to talk about the subjects and the subject matters that matter. I work for ESPN.
‘I’m not one of those that get into people’s private affairs but what you do on a public platform for public consumption, that’s what I cover. That’s what I do for a living. And if you’re in the NBA, that applies to you.
‘I don’t want enemies. I live a very good life. I like to make people laugh and smile and have a good time and all of that other stuff. But I also get paid to call it like I see it. And what I said at the time, I stand by what I said.’
Yet five days later, he offered a more scathing verdict on his bust-up with James during an appearance on the ‘Gil’s Arena’ podcast.
‘I thought it was weak, I thought it was some bulls***,’ he said about LeBron confronting him at courtside. ‘But in the moment, I knew that I was listening to a father.’
The ESPN personality later took a furious swipe at James over their viral courtside spat
He added: ‘Apparently LeBron had walked out at the timeout, and I turn around and he’s right here in my face.
‘He said, “Yo, you gotta stop talking s*** about my son. You gotta stop f****ng with my son. That’s my son, that’s my son!”‘
A few days after the incident, a new video emerged which appeared to show LeBron speaking about it with Smith’s ESPN colleague Richard Jefferson.
‘That’s the only thing I’m tripping,’ James could be heard saying to Jefferson. ‘I don’t give a f***. Once he talks about: “I’m pleading to you as a father”. I can’t.’
Smith said he was ‘really p****d’ after seeing James’ discussion with his co-worker, despite stressing that it vindicated his original comments about Bronny – having accused the Lakers icon of opening his son up to criticism last year.
‘Even though I thought that he misrepresented the argument, I was glad he did,’ Smith continued. ‘Because you see, what he was really talking about, which was confirmed with his conversation with Richard Jefferson, is that I was talking about him as a father.
‘And so what happens is… had he said that to me, then I wouldn’t have been thrown off. I’d have came right back at him [and said], “Yes I was. I was talking about you, you did this s***.”‘
A new clip appeared to show LeBron discussing the feud with one of Smith’s ESPN colleagues
Smith then took another shot at James for choosing to confront him in public.
‘Rather than come up to me at courtside, all you had to do was say, “Yo, I need to see you after the game,”‘ he fumed. ‘You didn’t do that s***. You said you’re f****ng with my son. No I wasn’t! I was talking about you!
‘It wasn’t about your son. I know he’s number 55. I know he got work to do. I believe that he’s got the potential and by the way, I’m rooting for him. I ain’t rooting against nobody! But I was talking about your a**! You! You did this!
‘All of us as reporters, as a league, as an NBA franchise, had to sit back and be quiet and capitulate to your s***, you did that.’