Stephen A. Smith says LeBron James confronting him was ‘weak’: ‘I was talking about you,’ not Bronny

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ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, center, sits courtside at the Lakers’ game against the New York Knicks on Thursday at Crypto.com Arena. Smith was confronted by Lakers star LeBron James during the game over comments Smith made about his son, Bronny, weeks ago. (Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images)

Stephen A. Smith thought LeBron James confronting him was “weak.”

He also thought it was “some bulls—.”

Days after he first spoke about James angrily addressing him face to face courtside during the third quarter of the Knicks-Lakers game Thursday, Smith had more to say about the encounter and its aftermath on a recent episode of the “Gil’s Arena” podcast. The ESPN personality said that the Lakers superstar got “right here in my face” coming out of a timeout and kept shouting for him to “stop talking s— about my son.”

“I said, ‘Yo, let’s talk later,’” Smith recounted to former NBA player Gilbert Arenas and his cohosts. “He’s like, ‘F— that, nah. F— that. You gotta stop f— with my son.’ And I said, ‘All right, though,’ and he walked off.

James’ oldest son Bronny is also his teammate. The Lakers drafted him at No. 55 overall last summer and the two became the first father-son duo to share an NBA court together on opening night. Since then, the younger James has split his time between the Lakers and the G League, averaging 1.4 points per game while playing in the NBA.

Read more: LeBron James appears to reveal what Stephen A. Smith said regarding Bronny that ticked him off

Smith spoke out about the situation on the Jan. 29 episode of “First Take,” the day after Bronny scored zero points on zero-for-five shooting while playing more than 15 minutes in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this,” Smith said at the time. “Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”

At last week’s game, Smith said, Bronny caught his eye during a first-quarter timeout.

“Bronny looked over at me, and he had this sad look on his face,” Smith said. “I’m imagining Pop saw that s—. It hit him. And he couldn’t hold it, and he rolled up on me.”

Earlier…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/stephen-smith-says-lebron-james-214002210.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2025-03-12 21:40:00

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