ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has been involved in a very public spat with Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James following back-and-forth jabs traded via the media and even a face-to-face confrontation at a Lakers game.
On Wednesday, James made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, where he had this to say bout the situation.
“Stephen A Smith is on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. He completely missed the whole point.. He got personal with it, and it’s my job to not only protect my own household but also all the players.”
Smith’s colleague weighed in on the situation on his Nightcap show with Chad Johnson, and he believes Smith has handled everything the wrong way.
“I wish Stephen A. would have just left it alone. 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 going to be done with it.’
“Because as my grandma used to say to me, ‘Boy, stirring up old ish, it still smells.’ 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. He needs to let it go. And now he’s like ‘Well, if he’d have hit me,’ I don’t think LeBron was coming to hit you, bro.
“LeBron was coming to tell you ‘Stop talking about my son.’ He said ‘As a father, now you making it personal. You making it personal, because now you’re making it seem,’ this is how LeBron, I think, took it, ‘You’re making it seem like I’m not a good father, that I’m not putting my son in the position to be successful. You’re pushing this.’”
It’ll be interesting to see how Smith feels about Sharpe’s comments on the matter.