LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers picked up their third-straight win on Tuesday night, defeating the New Orleans Pelicans, 110-101.
Luka Doncic led all players with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. LeBron James contributed 21 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists for the Lakers, who improved to 37-24 on the season.
Pelicans star Zion Williamson played despite previous injury concerns. The former No. 1 pick led his team with 24 points, four rebounds, and a steal, a day after appearing in an interview segment on ESPN, addressing criticisms he faced.
On the heels of that ESPN interview and new remarks about Zion, a postgame moment involving LeBron and Zion caught attention, with King James giving him some strong advice.
A clip has been circulating online after the game, featuring LeBron shaking hands and hugging Zion. Some of LeBron’s words to the younger star are audible in the video.
“F*** all that bulls***,” he says in part of the clip, with X (formerly Twitter) video posts suggesting he also name-drops “Stephen A. Smith.”
Whether or not he specifically said the ESPN journalist and on-air personality’s name has fans debating it online. Still, it lines up with earlier remarks Smith made about Williamson on television.
During ESPN’s “First Take,” Smith spoke about previous reports involving Zion, suggesting that they were not “made up” by anyone and came from people familiar with his situation.
“You got people that are alcoholics, you got people that are drug addicts, and stuff like that. What was Zion’s problem? Food! Food addict!” Smith ranted during a segment on ESPN’s show.
“Anyone that cooked knew about Zion Williamson, and he knew them, and they were on a first-name basis because he ate a lot,” Smith said, claiming it was a joke going around New Orleans.
Smith said someone else informed him that he should go on air and report that Zion was hiding food under his bed.
“This is the kind of stuff that was happening,” he said in his rant.
Smith’s comments on ESPN came after Zion appeared on the network in an interview segment with Malika Andrews, in which he responded to previous criticisms about his weight and not playing for the Pelicans due to injuries.
“There was a lot of criticism on my weight, my care for the game…I’m in Portland rehabbing, not knowing if my foot is going to heal. It was frustrating,” Zion said about the broken foot he suffered in his third year in the NBA.
“I mean, there are pros and cons to being in a certain position. Critics come with the territory,” he also said, adding, “The part that would get at me the most was people saying I didn’t care, and I care a lot. I really care. When you’re not on the court, and you have to just sit on the sideline, how much my critics hated, I hated more than them.”
“Going through all those injuries missing time…it did a lot on my mental, but it also helped me grow as a pro, so I would say it’s a blessing in disguise,” Zion said on ESPN.
LeBron’s speculative remarks to Zion about Smith arrive amid King James’ own battles with the ESPN star, who previously fired back at Smith over remarks he made about his son, Bronny James.
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