The ongoing drama between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith, which kicked up a notch this week following the NBA star’s sit-down interview with Pat McAfee, is hard to ignore.
That doesn’t mean everyone has to enjoy it, even if they work for ESPN.
Longtime Pardon The Interruption host Michael Wilbon recently discussed the matter and just about everything else in a wide-ranging interview with Fox Corporation-owned OutKick.
On Lebron, Wilbon said that he thinks “no one has been better with the media” than James, but his recent lines of attack “are beneath him,” including the shots he took at Brian Windhorst.
“Brian Windhorst is great at what he does… and I will vouch for him anytime, against anyone,” he added.
When asked if he felt the sports media unfairly covered LeBron, Wilbon balked and made a larger case for why modern-era players are simply wrong about this sentiment.
“I have heard this from players like Kevin Durant lately,” said Wilbon. “They say the previous generation of players were not criticized like they are. Fuck that. They better wake the fuck up.
“…I have said this to these players privately and will say it publicly: everyone gets criticized. They are just too young to know what the hell they are talking about. But maybe I’m just old.”
From there, the conversation shifted to social media, which, along with analytics, has been a thorn in the side of the 66-year-old Wilbon for years.
“I’m not a child of this era. I am a child of the mainstream media,” he said. “There is no accountability in this world. I had to be accountable to bosses and editors. These people on the internet don’t.”
Circling back to LeBron vs. Smith, Wilbon made it clear he doesn’t see much value in the drama. He’s just prefer that Winhorst didn’t end up as shrapnel in it.
“This whole LeBron and Stephen A. stuff, I just can’t. Enough. Stop it,” he said. “I’m too old for it. I am too old to consume it. But Windhorst didn’t deserve it.”
When it was brought up that ESPN and FS1 reportedly discussed Bronny James more than MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season, Wilbon didn’t mince words.
“Let me be clear: our business is a piece of shit a lot of days,” he said. “There is nobody enforcing standards or having tough conversations. This is what happens when you no longer have functioning newsrooms, because everyone is working from hotel rooms, from their bedrooms, and maybe even from their beds.
“Our business is just shit some days. It just is.”
