After addressing his recent interaction with LeBron James multiple times over the past few days, Stephen A. Smith is now giving his side of the story to “Gil’s Arena.”
Sitting down with the former Wizards star along with Nick Young and the rest of the crew, Smith took a much more confrontational approach to the situation in the aftermath of hearing James’ conversation with ex-teammate Richard Jefferson.
“I thought it was weak. I thought it was some [BS],” Stephen A. began. “But in the moment I knew I was listening to a father. … This was in the third quarter. Apparently, LeBron had walked out of the timeout and I turn around and he’s right here in my face.”
“He said, ‘Yo, you gotta stop talkin’ [expletive] about my son! You gotta stop [expletive] with my son! That’s my son, that’s my son!’ And I was like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Nah [expletive] that!”
“I thought it was weak. I thought it was bullsh*t.”@stephenasmith gives @GilsArenaShow the full story of what happened during his confrontation with LeBron 😳 pic.twitter.com/K6rtZsbYvf
— Underdog (@UnderdogFantasy) March 11, 2025
Stephen A. then recalled a moment earlier in the game where he and Bronny caught eyes and he thinks that’s what might’ve set things off the way that they happened.
“During a timeout in the first quarter, Bronny looked over at me and he had this sad look on his face. And I’m imagining pops saw it, and that [expletive] hit him, and he couldn’t hold it and he rolled up on me,” Smith shared. “… What he was really talking about, which was confirmed with his conversation with Richard Jefferson, is that I was talking about him as a father.”
“Had he said that to me, I wouldn’t have been thrown off, I would’ve came right back at him,” he argued. “‘Yes, I was. I was talking about you. You did this [expletive].’ … Once I saw the tape of him talking to Richard Jefferson Saturday night in Boston, that was when I got really pissed because that was confirmation.”
Clearly Stephen A. still feels a certain type of way about how things transpired and it doesn’t sound like LeBron is ready to bury the hatchet either.
We’ll see if cooler heads eventually prevail but for the time being there’s going to be some tension between the ESPN personality and the four-time MVP.
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