The ongoing beef between Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and ESPN talk show host Stephen A. Smith has been one of the prevalent storylines of this NBA season. It began when Smith on First Take pleaded with James “as a father” to stop allowing the Bronny James experiment in L.A. to continue after the rookie posted a difficult outing against the Philadelphia 76ers.
It was an absurd statement at the time, but was made even more ridiculous by Bronny playing great basketball at both the G League and NBA level in the weeks since. The comments culminated in LeBron confronting Smith courtside at a Lakers game. The following day, Smith went on another long rant, effectively not apologizing for any of James’ gripes.
LeBron hadn’t acknowledged the situation publicly since the on-court confrontation. But he finally did so on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, going on a hilarious rant about his perspective on the whole back and forth:
“He’s on like a Taylor Swift tour run right now. It started off with ‘I didn’t want to address it. I wasn’t going to address it, but since the video came out, I feel I need to address it.’ Are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait for the video to drop so you could address it, it’s your ass. Like seriously? And another thing, he completely missed the whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job to criticize or be in a position to say something if a guy’s not performing. That’s all part of the game. But when you take it and you get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household, but to protect the players. And I think a lot of the media, including him — and I know he’s gonna be happy as hell, smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him — like relax bro, relax.”
Smith is almost assuredly going to address these comments, as LeBron says at the end. But clearly, the Lakers star felt it was more important to give his side of this story as opposed to letting the narrative continue to run rampant.
It never felt as though James had an issue with anyone talking about Bronny, the basketball player. But when it came to talking about LeBron, the father, that’s when issues arose.
LeBron James discussed taking care of body and mind
LeBron James is doing unprecedented things this season. He is 40 years old and in his 22nd NBA campaign, yet he is still unquestionably one of the best players in basketball and could legitimately finish in the top five of MVP voting.
Very few players are still playing at age 40, or make it to their 22nd season. And the few that have were nowhere near the players they were in their prime. LeBron is bucking every trend of what it means to age as a professional athlete. And how he’s been able to do so comes down to work in multiple areas.
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