ESPN First Take star Stephen A. Smith has had one interesting week. For the past month, Smith has been locked in a feud with LeBron James stemming from their mid-game confrontation during the Lakers 113-109 win over the Knicks on January 6th. In a timeout during the third quarter, James confronted Smith after he made comments that appeared to criticize his parenting skills of Lakers rookie Bronny James. Smith hasn't been shy in talking about the incident, but the dispute hit another level when James appeared as a guest on Pat McAfee's show in a hour long pre-taped interview.
There, the NBA's all-time leading scorer let it be known what he thought about Smith.
“Never would I ever not allow people who talk about the sport to criticize players about what they do on the court,” James said on Wednesday. “That is your job to criticize, or to be in a position where if a guys not performing, that's all part of the game.”
James joked about Smith, saying he was the “one person who couldn’t wait for the video to drop” so he could “address” it after it went viral.
“It started off with, ‘I didn’t wanna address it. I didn’t wanna address it. I wasn’t going to address it, but since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.' Are you, are you kidding me? If there’s one person that couldn’t wait for the video to drop so you could address it, it’s your ass. Like, seriously?”
Smith did indeed address LeBron James's comments on the latest edition of The Stephen A. Smith Show, sharing that he doesn't like the four-time NBA Champion and believes he's selfish. But Smith didn't stop there. He also dedicated a significant portion of First Take to respond to James's comments, even alleging that James didn't attend the memorial service for the late Kobe Bryant, although he retracted his comments on that matter after it was proven that James was indeed at the service.
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“My apologies and clarification. I misspoke in Hour#1 of @FirstTake today when I intimated that LeBron did not attend Kobe Bryant’s memorial. I corrected myself in Hour#2 when I acknowledged he was indeed in attendance. My mistake. Should not have even broached that subject. It was not my main point. I retract NOTHING else that I said. Have a nice day,” Smith said in a Thursday afternoon follow-up tweet.
Smith has been getting massive critique for his war-of-words with LeBron James and the way that he's handled it. But, the New Orleans Pelicans social media admins added a savage post to the discourse to add to the discourse surrounding him.
“good day to bump this,” the Pelicans X page said, quoting a video they put out in February 2025 of a lowlight of Stephen A. Smith playing basketball.
The video even highlighted his time at his HBCU, Winston-Salem State, where he played for legendary basketball coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines. Smith didn't see much playing time because of an injury he suffered and ultimately averaged 1.5 points in his tenure with the team. His points per game average at that time is often the butt of jokes at his expense, but particularly horrible timing given the circumstances.
