March 8, 2025
Stephen A. Smith Fires Back After LeBron James Confrontation
Smith spent the weekend addressing the tense conversation the James had with him.
Stephen A. Smith, who recently signed a $100 million deal with ESPN, found himself in an unexpected exchange with NBA star LeBron James over remarks he’s made about LeBron’s son, Bronny James Jr., during a courtside visit on March 6.
Smith spent the weekend addressing the tense conversation the elder James had with him, first on a March 7 episode of “First Take.” Later that night, through his podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” an episode met with criticism from both NBA players and NBA fans alike on social media.
According to The Athletic, Smith stated on the “First Take” program that although he understood that James was coming to him as a father, he still took exception to him approaching Smith publicly about his comments without going through other channels, which he deemed more appropriate.
“That was LeBron James coming up to me, unexpectedly, I might add, to confront me about making sure that I mind what I say about his son,” Smith said on “First Take” while discussing a clip of the moment, which had gone viral on social media. “Can’t repeat the words because they ain’t suited for FCC airwaves. That’s what he was doing.”
Smith continued, “That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent, that was a father. And I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard. By all accounts, he’s obviously a wonderful family man and wonderful father who cares very deeply about his son. And based on some of the comments he had heard — or shall I say, I think he thought he heard — he clearly took exception to some of the things that he heard me say. And he confronted me about it.”
Following the program’s discussion, Smith followed up by addressing the incident further on his podcast. This caught the attention of James’ former teammate, Kevin Love, who posted a reply to Smith’s announcement that he was going to discuss the matter on his podcast.
“You have no choice? lol because it went viral? lol you didn’t want to have to? lol you wouldn’t have? lol,” Love wrote, criticizing Smith’s decision to continue the conversation about James confronting him.
Later, Smith addressed Love’s post through his podcast, writing in a quote tweet, “Addressing this now,” along with a link to his podcast.
On the podcast, Smith also addressed comments made by Charles Barkley on “Inside The NBA.”
Barkley, an NBA Hall of Famer, was critical of what he perceives as an unhealthy focus on teams like the Lakers and Warriors and numerous Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James GOAT conversations at ESPN, whose network Barkley and company are set to join in 2026.
“I’ve said it for years, the only people talking about LeBron and Michael is people on television who got no talent to talk about anything else,” Barkley said on the March 7 episode of Inside The NBA. “I been saying that for years. I ain’t hanging onto the ‘90s.”
According to Awful Announcing, Smith also addressed Barkley’s comments concerning the Lakers’ coverage on “First Take” with a shot at Barkley.
“Barkley does television. He’d never be accused of knowing television. That would be Ernie Johnson who handles that responsibility,” Smith said. “Maybe Charles Barkley should look at its rundowns from time to time even though they are an NBA show as opposed to a show that talks about an abundance of things. The fact of the matter is, some stories get a higher profile than others because they resonate with the viewing public. And in television, it’s called ratings.”
RELATED CONTENT: ‘First Take’s’ Stephen A. Smith Secures $100M Bag From ESPN Contract Extension