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LeBron James Makes NBA History After Return to Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James is calling foul on Stephen A. Smith.
The Los Angeles Lakers star went viral for seemingly having a heated exchange with the ESPN personality ahead of his team's game against the New York Knicks March 6, and now Stephen is shedding light on the tense confrontation.
"I didn’t want to have to address this," he tweeted March 7. "I wouldn’t have, either, had it not gone viral."
The First Take host—who said in January that LeBron's son and teammate Bronny James, 20, "is in the NBA because of his dad"—added that he would discuss it on his show later that morning and declared that "some things just have to be said. And, sure enough, he did.
"That was Lebron James coming up to me—unexpectedly, I might add—to confront me about making sure that I mind what I say about his son," Smith said of the clip on First Take March 7. "Can't repeat the words because they ain't suited for FCC airwaves. That's what he was doing."
The 57-year-old went on to say that he "thought long and hard" about how to address the viral video and "had no intention of talking about" his exchange—which he deemed a "confrontation"—with LeBron until it spread across the internet.
"Ultimately, it was unavoidable and that is why I have to discuss it now," Smith explained. "That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent. That was a father, and I can't sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard."
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"By all accounts, he's obviously a wonderful family man and a wonderful father who cares very, very deeply about his
son," Smith continued. "And based on some of the comments that he had heard—or shall I say, I think he thought he heard—he clearly took exception to some of the things that he heard me say, and he confronted me about it."
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The sports caster went on to express his disappointment that the Lakers superstar—who in addition to Bronny shares Bryce James, 17, and daughter Zhuri, 10, with wife Savannah James—didn't share his grievances privately.
"LeBron James knows how to get in contact with me, if he wanted to. He never called," Smith shared. "'Cause had he called and wanted to talk to me, I would've accepted that call. Had he wanted to see me, I would've flown out and I would've seen him and I would've had a conversation man-to-man, but that is not what he elected to do. Instead, he elected to confront me while I was sitting courtside."
While the ESPN host didn't share the particulars of what LeBron said to him in the moment, he shared that "he said what he had to say, and apparently he feels like I was slighting his son."
The pair's heated exchange comes over a month after Smith sounded off on Bronny's unremarkable stats during his rookie season in the NBA.
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"I am pleading with LeBron James, as a father. Stop this. Stop this," he said in January. "We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad."
"We love what we're seeing from him in the G League because that's where you belong as you hone your skills and you get better and you legitimately earn," Smith added, "which I believe he has the potential to do, I am rooting for Bronny James. It would be cruel to root against him. He's a wonderful kid, I wish him nothing but the best."
English (US) ·