It has been almost a month since an upset LeBron James approached Stephen A. Smith to tell him to stop dragging his son Bronny James on March 6.
The sideline interaction keeps making the rounds on the media and Skip Bayless, one of the most vocal James critics, offered his two cents on what transpired between James and Smith at Crypto.com Arena.
In a clip of his “Skip Bayless Show” shared on Tuesday, the veteran analyst called out James for choosing that place and moment, a Los Angeles Lakers-New York Knicks game, to come to his former ESPN co-host’s face.
“How weak was that, on LeBron’s part, to choose that time and that place to deliver that message?” Bayless said. “This was a flat-out ambush, a drive-by, a premeditated and calculated move by LeBron James to show up Stephen A. in front of the NBA world while giving Stephen A. no face-to-face time to respond.
“LeBron didn’t want any rebuttal. This was just a delusionally, irrationally, insanely proud pop, telling off Stephen A. Smith, knowing this debate was rigged. Frankly, that was pretty cowardly.”
“That was pretty cowardly.” – @RealSkipBayless
Skip reacts to LeBron ambushing Stephen A. Smith in front of the whole NBA world. pic.twitter.com/XKo4uLiX7W
— The Skip Bayless Show (@SkipBaylessShow) March 31, 2025
Smith continued talking about LeBron and his son, which seemingly led to the Lakers star’s interview on “The Pat McAfee Show” last week. James clapped back at Smith’s comments, extending their back-and-forth.
After the ESPN personality said he would have swung on James if he was attacked first, the four-time NBA champion mocked Smith’s boxing skills with an Instagram post.
The discussion has gone quiet, apparently, but Bayless’ words could reignite the verbal war.