Stephen A. Smith says LeBron James confronting him was 'weak': 'I was talking about you,' not Bronny

Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times on Mar 12, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — Stephen A. Smith thought LeBron James confronting him was "weak."

He also thought it was "some bulls—."

Days after he first spoke about James angrily addressing him face to face courtside during the third quarter of the Knicks-Lakers game Thursday, Smith had more to say about the encounter and its aftermath on a recent episode of the "Gil's Arena" podcast. The ESPN personality said that the Lakers superstar got "right here in my face" coming out of a timeout and kept shouting for him to "stop talking s— about my son."

"I said, 'Yo, let's talk later,' " Smith recounted to former NBA player Gilbert Arenas and his cohosts. "He's like, 'F— that, nah. F— that. You gotta stop f— with my son.' And I said, 'All right, though,' and he walked off."

James' oldest son Bronny is also his teammate. The Lakers drafted him at No. 55 overall last summer and the two became the first father-son duo to share an NBA court together on opening night. Since then, the younger James has split his time between the Lakers and the G League, averaging 1.4 points per game while playing in the NBA.

Smith spoke out about the situation on the Jan. 29 episode of "First Take," the day after Bronny scored zero points on 0-for-5 shooting while playing more than 15 minutes in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.

"I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this," Smith said at the time. "Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad."

At last week's game, Smith said, Bronny caught his eye during a first-quarter timeout.

"Bronny looked over at me, and he had this sad look on his face," Smith said. "I'm imagining Pop saw that s—. It hit him. And he couldn't hold it, and he rolled up on me."

Earlier Thursday, news had become public about Smith's new five-year, $100 million contract with ESPN. After the video of the James incident went viral overnight, Smith said, "the bosses at ESPN" told him to address the matter. He did so on Friday's episode of "First Take."

"That wasn't a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent," Smith said. "That was a father. I can't sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard."

Smith has also discussed the incident on his own podcast, "The Stephen A. Smith Show." James hasn't commented publicly about the incident. Over the weekend, however, video footage became public of James speaking about it with Richard Jefferson, a former teammate and current ESPN analyst.

"Once he talks about, 'I'm pleading with you as a father,' I can't," James sounded like he told Jefferson before the Lakers' road game against the Boston Celtics on Saturday.

That, Smith said on Arenas' podcast, convinced him that James' issue wasn't really with Smith talking critically about Bronny's play on the court.

"You see, 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," Smith said.

If James had accurately presented his grievances, Smith said, his own reaction would have been different.

"Had he said that to me, then I wouldn't have been thrown off," Smith said. "I'd have came right back at him: 'Yes, I was. I was talking about you. You did this s—.'"

Smith added: "But because he didn't do that, I said, 'Fine.' You let it go. Mind you, I just agreed to my contract. I'm courtside. That day was when it was announced. It's all over, all over everywhere. It's a nationally televised game. The cameras are rolling. And I'm like, 'If I do anything, this going to be a scene.'

"Now, we can sit here in front all we want to and act like we don't work for somebody. Dammit, I work for Walt Disney. And if I had gotten into some s— with [James] at courtside right there at that moment, no matter how right I would have been, it would have been wrong. And I was like, 'I'm not gonna do this.' But once I saw the tape of him talking to Richard Jefferson [on] Saturday night in Boston, that was when I got really pissed because that was confirmation."