Stephen A. Smith
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ESPN's Stephen A. Smith was criticized for his most recent Jets take.
The rivalry between Los Angeles Lakers icon LeBron James and ESPN personality Stephen A Smith continues to worsen. James confronted Smith last season during a live Lakers game and cursed him out over critical comments made about LeBron’s son Bronny James on First Take. The issues clearly still exist, after Stephen A used his platform to trash James after his recent advertisement that annoyed many fans.
Smith called out James for marketing of the Decision 2.0 to reveal an advertisement tied into his endorsement of the Hennessy alcohol brand. Most felt it was a dumb idea, but Stephen A went further in depth claiming he’ll question LeBron’s sobriety after bad games:
“As a matter of fact, if you play like garbage at any point in time when it really really counts, I’m going to think about that Hennessy commercial and wonder if you were drinking something before the game.”
Any NBA player drinking before a game would become a massive story that leads to suspensions or worse. Almost everyone would agree that James would never drink before a game, but Smith clearly enjoyed exaggerating his criticism of shining a light at LeBron for such an embarrassing ad.
Stephen A Also Calls LeBron “Cringy”
The comments directed towards LeBron James did not stop there from Stephen A Smith. ESPN First Take gives him the freedom to pick topics and James’ ad was the biggest NBA topic of the day. Smith went further by using terms like “corny” and “cringy” to describe LeBron’s antics with such a strange ad:
“This was corny as hell, it was cringy. It was all of that. We know this. You’re promoting an alcoholic beverage and trying to give people that this could be your final season, that you might end up retiring.”
Fan theories speculated online that James had a major announcement that could shake the future of the league after he first teased the Decision 2.0. However, most engrained in the deeper basketball circles figured a career-changing announcement would not come during the preseason on a day’s notice. Smith still felt it was worth bringing attention to LeBron creating expectations for bigger news.
Stephen A Is Latest LeBron Enemy
Stephen A Smith became one of the rivals and enemies of LeBron James in the media last season. The infamous argument at the Lakers game led to Smith going in depth about their historical issues via his podcast and First Take show. Smith accused LeBron of holding a grudge against him for saying Michael Jordan is above James on any all-time NBA ranking.
Skip Bayless used to be the biggest James hater in media via platforms on ESPN and Fox Sports. Part of Bayless’ reputation as an analyst revolved around always finding the negative spin about LeBron. Smith has been fairer throughout his career, but the personal issues over the past year have made them enemies.
James likely will not be happy about Smith using an ESPN platform to make jokes about LeBron drinking alcohol before games. Many other athletes have alcoholic sponsorships and rarely get comments like this. James’ fanatics have called out Smith and ESPN for benefiting from gambling sponsorship, but it all goes back to Stephen A and LeBron’s personal issues impacting how they reference each other now.