Just when it seemed that the highly discussed feud between Los Angeles Lakers legend
LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith was over, it took a new turn. After James’s response to the confrontation with Smith in his recent chat with Pat McAfee, Smith did not hold back, as he gave a fiery remark to threaten James’ legacy. The incident has been the talk of the town, and it appears that both parties are not ready to move on just yet.
Stephen A. Smith fires back at LeBron James, again
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has been one of the vocal critics of Bronny James, and now his attention has shifted to Bronny’s father, LeBron James. After James’ discussion of his courtside confrontation with Smith with F-words, the NBA analyst fueled the fire with more gasoline as he did not hesitate to respond with a bold remark.
“But don’t the truth matter?” Smith asked his audience during the latest episode of the show on Wednesday's Stephen A. Smith Show. “Because there’s one person in this ordeal that’s telling the truth and it’s me... And there’s a lot of shady stuff that he does and one of the things is passive aggressiveness and the two facedness,” Smith continued. “I happened to know that about him which is why I don’t like him and he don’t like me but it doesn't stop me from being fair and calling it like I see it.”
Smith asked James why his son and family were in the Crypto.com arena if he couldn’t handle the criticism. He further slammed the Lakers veteran for his response to Smith on the Pat McAfee show.
"It was fresh out of a timeout. It was him walking to the basketball court. It was on national television. The cameras were rolling. And had I done something, what do y'all want me to do? You want me to act new? You want this to be a reincarnation of Chris Rock and Will Smith?" the NBA analyst recalled the incident.
But Smith was all armed up for a fight if the altercation turned into a physical brawl. "And let me state for the record that while we bring up that, let me assure you it wouldn't have gone down like that. I would have gotten my a** kicked because had that man put his hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him. Immediately. That I'm not going to tolerate," he said.
He continued, "I knew he wasn't going to do something like that. There was no fear in my mind about it. It was shock because as I have repeatedly stated, I was not talking about his son. I was talking about him."
Smith also asserted that James’ legacy in the league does not matter much. "When you retire let's see how much I talk about you then. You won't matter much. I promise you. I won't be talking about you much when you stop playing, but as long as you're playing, I'm going to talk about you because that's my job, and I'm going to be very objective about it. You deserve praise. I'm gonna give it to you. You deserve criticism. I'm gonna give that to, but at least I'm going to tell the truth instead of lying."
What did LeBron James say about his feud with Stephen A. Smith?
James recently had a chat with McAfee on the Pat McAfee show, and he gave his reaction to the whole ordeal. "Motherf*****, if there's one person who could not wait to address it," James said.
"What I do know is that he completely missed the whole point. Missed the whole point. Never would I ever not allow to talk about the sport, criticize players what they do on the court. it is your job. It's part of the game. But when you take it and you get personal with it, it is my job to protect my damn household, but protect the players. I think a lot of the media, including him."
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"We don't talk, because I'm still playing": LeBron James opens up on his relationship with Michael Jordan and what the future might holdThe Lakers star further mocked Smith, saying that he “is on a Taylor Swift tour run right now.”
Update: after Smith's rant, James posted a boxing training video of the sports analyst mocking him to extend the feud.
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