Charles Barkley said what everyone except for LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith already knew: there are no winners in their infuriatingly long feud.
Barkley joined The Dan Patrick Show Friday morning to discuss the NCAA Tournament. But they couldn’t help from talking about James vs. Smith for more than 10 minutes after Patrick asked Barkley to assess who had a better week.
“I’ve always liked LeBron, but him being a bully, it turned me off. But I will say this, Stephen A., the way he reacted, was so lame and weak.”
– Charles Barkley on the ongoing LeBron James/Stephen A. Smith saga. pic.twitter.com/sS9weLivcs
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 28, 2025
“They both had an awful week,” Barkley said without hesitation. “LeBron, he’s too big to be that type of bully. To bully Stephen A. and to bully Brian Windhorst. Brian Windhorst is a sweet person. He’s just trying to do his thing. And I’ve always liked LeBron, but him being a bully, it turned me off. But I will say this, Stephen A., the way he reacted was so lame and weak.”
“LeBron pissed me off when he went after Brian Windhorst,” Barkley added. “Because Brian Windhorst is a good person, man. I don’t know him really, really well, but I think he got a pure heart. He’s just trying to do his job and he’s out here catching strays.”
Windhorst might be the only person who is being almost unanimously defended after James dragged the ESPN reporter into this NBA vs. the media crusade during his lengthy sit-down on The Pat McAfee Show.
Barkley blamed James for “starting the bullying,” noting the 40-year-old NBA superstar is a “control freak” and calculates his every move. According to Barkley, James knew what he was doing when he confronted Smith during a Lakers game last month and he knew what he was doing when he poured gasoline on the feud with McAfee.
“There’s only losers in this scenario, us as sports media,” Barkley said. “You got the biggest star in the game and you probably got the biggest star on television and they both look bad…LeBron started it. And Stephen A, I’m not sure what he was trying to do, he just made it worse and worse and worse. And then I saw the thing last night where he had to come out and apologize for saying LeBron didn’t go to Kobe’s memorial, I’m like dude, what the hell are you doing?!”
While Barkley gave James his fair share of blame, he believes Smith should have ended the feud after their on-court confrontation.
But ending the feud without igniting it is no way for Smith to continue his Trumpian-like path towards potentially running for president. Instead, “Stephen A. went on the other podcasts as a tough guy, that’s what triggered LeBron again,” Barkley believes.
There are only losers in this scenario. The people punching down are losers. The people punching up are losers. And yes, even the people having to endure weeks and months of covering a feud nobody asked for are losers in this scenario. Hopefully someone can convince Smith to stop using his platform to foster a feud with James, but it seems like that might only entice him to keep it brewing even longer.
