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LeBron James' statements on the Pat McAfee show were bound to draw the attention of Stephen A. Smith, and in turn a reply was all but certain. While the Lakers star lamented about the viral confrontation he had with Smith during the appearance on McAfee's show, but that part of the show was released later with the full clip. To tease the episode, one of the portions from it was released prior to the final output, and the subject raised in it caught the eye of Stephen A. Smith.
Stephen A. Smith Chides LeBron James
In the short clip, James was seen taking aim at the past generations of NBA players, stating that had Bucks' forward Giannis Antetokounmpo would have played in the 1970s, he would have scored 250 points in a single game.
“You trying to tell me Giannis wouldn’t be able to play an NBA game in the ’70s?” James tells McAfee in the clip. “Giannis Antetokounmpo would have 250 points in a game in the ’70s.”
King James' comment did not sit well with Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, who dismissed the claim made by the Lakers superstar. He gave the example of Julius “Dr. J.” Erving a top-12 player of all time to contradict James' opinion.
While Stephen A. Smith wasn't on the same page with Russo, but he also took issue with James' comment.
“It’s still disrespectful to the previous eras. And there’s no call for it,” Smith said. “And so when he does what he does on that level, that’s him passive aggressively — yet again — finding a way to take shots because inherently he has a problem with himself being prepared to dudes from previous eras.”
Smith further said that James' tendency to downplay the players from past generations has stemmed from the debates about the "GOAT", as many of the critics keep Michael Jordan above in the pecking order. Smith grabbed the opportunity to further reiterate his stance about why MJ is the GOAT of the sport.
