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ESPN's Stephen A. Smith spoke extensively about his viral courtside confrontation with LeBron James last week, first appearing sympathetic to his complaint; nevertheless, the prominent sports pundit expanded on his opinions this week, calling the Lakers superstar's response to the issue "weak."
The intense argument occurred during the third quarter of the Lakers' overtime victory over the New York Knicks on Thursday. It appeared to revolve on James' dissatisfaction with Smith's comments about Bronny James.
The following day, during an appearance on "First Take," Smith stated that the interaction was "unexpected" but said he did not hold any ill-will towards James because he understood the position he was in.
"That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me, that was a parent, that was a father. I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in that regard. By all accounts, he’s obviously a wonderful family man and father who cares very, very deeply about his son, and based on some of the comments he had heard — or shall I say I think he thought he heard — clearly took exception to some of the things he heard me say, and he confronted me about it."
The saga did not end there as another viral video of James recounting his altercation with former teammate and current ESPN announcer Richard Jefferson on Saturday has revived the controversy.
"I thought it was weak, I thought it was some bulls---. But in the moment, I knew that I was listening to a father," Smith said Tuesday during an appearance on the "Gil’s Arena" podcast.
Smith reiterated that he was caught off guard by the demeanour of LeBron James, and he expanded on the conversation he had with the Lakers star.
"He said, ‘Yo, you gotta stop talking s--- about my son. You gotta stop f---ing with my son – that’s my son. That’s my son."
Smith explained that the initial argument was over what James "thought" Smith had said about his son, which is why he was surprised. However, the conversation with Jefferson focused on Smith's actual criticism, which was James' desire for his son to be drafted and play in the NBA as a rookie before he was ready.
"I thought that he misrepresented the argument, I was glad he did," Smith continued. "Because what he was really talking about, which was confirmed with his conversation with Richard Jefferson – is that I was talking about him as a father. Had he said that to me, I wouldn’t have been thrown off. I would’ve came right back at him — yes I was, I was talking about you, you did this s---."
