LeBron James has been the face of the league for the better part of his 22-year career in the NBA. During this time span, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar has been criticized a lot, and by that, we mean a lot.
Even then, the 40-year-old has hardly confronted his critics in the media and simply focused on playing elite basketball, but he broke that rule for Stephen A. Smith.
Smith is known for his outspoken takes and criticism of the top stars in the league, but the veteran NBA analyst seemingly crossed a line when he accused James of being a bad father.
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SAS' reasoning was that the Lakers star intentionally pushed his son, Bronny James, to be an NBA player even though he lacks the talent to play in the league. Well, James recently confronted Smith on courtside.
Since then, Smith has seemingly gone on a media tour to defend himself and even labelled James as 'weak' for his actions. While most have criticized the ESPN analyst for his actions, former NBA player Gordon Hayward offered a slightly different take on the situation.
"I think we all have moments where we want to confront the talking heads because a lot of the stuff they say, they just don't know what they're talking about," Hayward said on Run It Back . "They're not with you in the locker room, or they don't know what's going on behind the scenes. They have some source and they're getting secondhand information, but me personally, I would never do that in public like that. I don't think that's the time or place to do something like that."
. @gordonhayward on LeBron confronting Stephen A. Smith:
"I think we all have moments where we want to confront the talking heads...but, I would never do that in public like that. I don't think that's the time or place to do something like that."@MichelleDBeadle |… pic.twitter.com/UqRjJOKg9P
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) March 13, 2025
Hayward mentioned he would have personally stayed away from Smith, but his comments certainly make it feel like he's against James' confrontation.
As a result, it's likely that the former Boston Celtics star will now be perceived as someone who is in the ESPN TV host's corner.
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