LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith have had a feud for more than a decade now. There has been a lot of criticism about LeBron’s actions over the years from Smith. Even though Stephen A. Smith considers LeBron James one of the greatest players ever, he often pinpoints things that do not go with James’ reputation. Apart from years of boiled-up tension between the two, the feud went one step further when Smith talked about Bronny James.
In March 2025, Stephen A. Smith claimed that Bronny was in the league only because LeBron James was his father. This stemmed a courtside incident between James and Smith. Tensions were flared up when during a Lakers game, James and Smith almost squared off and James told Smith to not talk about his family.
Smith later revealed how he felt about the whole incident and how it was not a basketball player who walked up to him; it was a father. Smith also claimed that if James had put his hands on him, he would have immediately swung on him.
Fast forward to October, Smith had criticisms for James and his “Decision 2.0”. It misled a few people as it was just an ad for Hennessy, while people thought LeBron was about to retire. Smith called it cringy.
In a recent podcast appearance with one of LeBron’s closest friends Carmelo Anthony, Stephen A. Smith made a blunt admission.
“I don’t like his a**. Not a little bit. I understand what he means to Melo. I understand what he means to Dwade, my boys. I understand it. But all I’m going to say when it comes to that, Melo is 1,000% right. This dates back more than a decade. I’m not going to go into detail at the sh*t this man [LeBron James] has tried to do to me. People don’t understand. You don’t know that you do not understand the links this man would go to,” Stephen A. Smith made an ugly accusation at 6:45.
“You know, I believe he’s one way publicly, he’s another way privately. I believe he’s, you know, he might not be interviewed and he might not be quoted, but the things he says and the things he has said to people, it’s gotten back to me. The things that he’s tried to do, if it were up to him, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he added.
Smith refused to go into further details as he did not want things to get “uglier”.
Stephen A. Smith Revisits Courtside Incident With LeBron James
Smith talked about the incident in March when LeBron walked up to him. He revisited how James rolled up on him. That was the day Smith’s contract with ESPN had been announced.
Smith complained about the camera angles during the incident. He was in the arena in the first quarter but James walked up to him during the third. Smith also claimed how the camera angles were in James’ favor as only his face was visible to people when everyone saw it. He also said how he has been in the business for too long and he knows how it works.
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