The feud between Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith reached new heights on Wednesday following James' exclusive interview on the "Pat McAfee Show."
During the interview, James made it clear that Smith completely missed the point of why he confronted him weeks ago at a Lakers-Knicks game, where Smith was sitting courtside.
The tension started over comments Smith made about LeBron's son and fellow Lakers teammate, Bronny James. LeBron took offense to what he considered disrespectful remarks. After remaining silent on the matter for weeks, James threw some serious shade at Smith during his appearance on Wednesday's show.
"He's like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. It started off with, ‘I didn't want to address it. I wasn't going to address it, but since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.' [Explicit] are you kidding me? If there was one player that couldn't wait for the video to drop so you could address it."
James added, "another thing, he completely missed the whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players for what they do on the court. That is your job... That's all part of the game. But when you take it and get personal with it, it's my job to not only protect my damn household, but protect the players. And I think a lot of the media, including him, and I know he's going to be happy as hell. He's going to be smiling ear to ear when he hears me talking about him... like relax, bro, relax."
"Stephen A Smith is like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now.
It started off with ‘I didn't wanna address it, but since the video came out I have to.' -
LeBron James going in Stephen A Smith on ESPN on the Pat McAfee show
pic.twitter.com/7k6TPLXQ5h
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod (@big_business_) March 26, 2025
Smith later responded to James' latest comments on the "Stephen A. Smith Show," calling James a "liar" and emphasizing that if James had slapped him during their confrontation, he wouldn't have hesitated to start throwing punches. This only escalated the drama to another level.
Shortly after the Lakers' win, Smith's "First Take" co-host and avid LeBron and Lakers fan, Shannon Sharpe, broke his silence on the matter during his podcast with Chad Ochocinco.
"I wish Stephen A. would have just left it alone," Sharpe said. "Once he addressed it, once it happened, address it, this is what happened, he came over to me, said what he said, I want to address it now and I'm gonna be done with it."
"So every time Stephen A. talks about it, it stirs it up again. I see both sides of the equation, but Stephen A. just needs to let it go. Am I surprised by the way LeBron responded so publicly? No. For him to do that at a game lets you know how upset he was at Stephen A. and what Stephen A. has been saying."
Listen to his full opinion:
Unc & Ocho react to LeBron's beef with Stephen A Smith @ShannonSharpe@ochocinco@ShayShayMedia_pic.twitter.com/4xK3B1hgdG
— Nightcap (@NightcapShow_) March 27, 2025
As Sharpe mentioned, James is not one to make things extremely public, especially matters of this nature, which makes this situation quite unprecedented. Yet, since the occurrence, Smith has covered it on numerous platforms.
Nonetheless, with just ten games remaining in the NBA regular season, there will likely be a lot of coverage that Smith and ESPN will be doing on James and the Lakers, especially after they won Wednesday's game on a buzzer-beater by LeBron.
Related: Pat McAfee Reacts with Two Words to LeBron James' Epic Buzzer-Beater in Lakers' Win
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This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 6:24 AM.