Stephen A. Smith Admits That He Doesn't Like LeBron James

How Much Money ESPN Pays Stephen A. Smith (1:02)

Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James have their share of personal history — which came to an explosive head earlier this year when the King confronted him mid-game about comments made about his son.

That led to the “First Take” personality going on a weeks long media media circuit where he claimed he “would have immediately swung” on the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. And now Smith is finally admitting the obvious: that he doesn’t really care for LeBron.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Stephen A. spoke on his relationship with the 21-time All-Star — giving him respect for his on-court accomplishments while also explaining that there isn’t much love lost between the two.

Stephen A. Smith admits that he doesn’t like LeBron James

“I don’t like him, and he don’t like me. He’s one of the greatest players who’s ever lived. I’m going to show him that respect, and I’m going to cover him objectively. When he does great, I’m gonna applaud. When he… pic.twitter.com/LYJDJf86sg

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“I don’t like him, and he don’t like me,” the ESPN commentator said. “He’s one of the greatest players who’s ever lived. I’m going to show him that respect, and I’m going to cover him objectively. When he does great, I’m gonna applaud. When he doesn’t do great, I’m not gonna applaud.”

“He hid behind his son, tried to make something out of nothing, as if I was dogging his son, which I was not. The real issue was we don’t like each other. And he used that as an excuse to confront me,” Smith claimed. “I got it.”

LeBron even went on the “Pat McAfee Show” to defend his actions on Stephen A.’s own network which really seemed to set Smith off and drew another response out of the sports talk debater.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) dribbles the ball against the Dallas Mavericks during the second half at Crypto.com Arena.

Credit&colon; Gary A&period; Vasquez-Imagn Images

“I just want to say for the record LeBron James is full of it and in this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he is a liar,” Stephen A. stated. “He went on national television today and he lied again.”

“It was during the third quarter, 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? Do you want this to be a reincarnation of Chris Rock and Will Smith?”