The seemingly never-ending drama surrounding LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith took another wild turn on Saturday when audio from a conversation between James and Richard Jefferson went viral on social media. True to form, it didn’t take Smith all that long to share his side of the story in this growing beef between the two on Monday’s edition of The Stephen A. Smith Show.
The lengthy back and forth between James and Smith stems from an incident last week where James was seen confronting Smith after the Lakers victory over the Knicks, telling him to “stop effing” with his son, Bronny James, referring to criticisms from Smith back in January about Bronny’s playing time in the NBA.
Then, James and Jefferson, a colleague of Smith and former teammate of James, were seen discussing the confrontation prior to Saturday’s matchup between the Lakers and Celtics, where James was heard sharing his frustration with Jefferson about the interaction.
As Smith has done extensively throughout this brouhaha with James, he opted to publicly address matters on The Stephen A. Smith Show, detailing how he believes that the Los Angeles Lakers star is more upset that he had his decisions as a father questioned than anything negative that was ever said about Bronny.
“I’ve never, ever, ever been about being critical of Bronny. I’ve gone out of my way, being who I am in the position that I am in, to avoid even critiquing him for years out of respect for the James family. Rich Paul knows that, Maverick Carter knows that. Opposing agents and players, former and present, who had asked me why I wouldn’t do it, know my position. It was on the record. There are clips of it on First Take. That was my position. So when he said to me ‘Stop sh**ting on my son’, I am like what? What are you talking about?
“But then something happened. Something happened and a light bulb hit my ear. And that was him with Richard Jefferson. When he sat up there and said ‘When I was talking as a dad, I can’t, I can’t…’ So it wasn’t about Bronny… It was about him. Those are his words. Once he said as a father, that was about him. Which was my point January 29th. It’s been about you. I don’t want to have a critical word about Bronny James at this stage of his career. It was never about Bronny. I wouldn’t do that to a kid. It was about his dad. And it wasn’t about his dad wanting him in the NBA. It’s about the things he said. And the things he maneuvered and manipulated in order to get his son to wear the same uniform as him.”
Smith then addressed those that have been critical of him throughout this public beef with James and how this incident has created a negative public perception of him in the eyes of some, detailing that he is “done taking this s***” from people.
“I want to get into a conversation about me because of how some folks have been attacking me,” added Smith. Not over this, but using this as an excuse of how I am hating on the brothers. I’m sick of that s***. I’m not back up from that anymore. I’m not taking it anymore. I’m not just a black man, I’m a brother. I’m not gonna take this s*** anymore. I’m going on Gilbert Arenas’ podcast tomorrow. Gilbert Arenas, with Rashad McCants and Kenyon Martin, Swaggy P and the crew. I can’t wait for that conversation.
“I’m not taking this s*** no more from people. I’ve had it with this. Because it is incidents like this that people try and piggyback off of. They try to use it as an excuse to talk about me hating on brothers. Me, the brother who is the ambassador for HBCU Week. That has generated millions in scholarship dollars for thousands of kids. Me, who has helped diversify ESPN with the opportunities as executive producer of First Take. Black folks, men and women, any minority you can find. Me, who has worked in this business for 30 years. Think about what I know. Think about what I have seen. Think about all of the incriminating stuff I can say. Think about how many incriminating facts I have. But I’m talking about the game.”
Clearly, Smith is quite passionate that he doesn’t believe there has been any “hating” involved from his perspective towards Bronny. And clearly, LeBron disagrees. So don’t expect to see this relationship resolved unless a far more calm interaction takes place between these two bold personalities.
