Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James went on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday morning and gave his honest thoughts on a variety of subjects, including his ongoing feud with Stephen A. Smith.
LeBron recently confronted Smith while sitting courtside at a Lakers game about his previous comments on Bronny James. Since then, Stephen A. has expressed his displeasure towards James on a variety of platforms, causing the 40-year-old to clap back on McAfee’s show for missing his point of the confrontation.
Naturally, Smith later spoke on the subject on his podcast and was clipped as saying he would have swung on James had he put his hands on him first.
Stephen A Smith says he would’ve swung on LeBron
“If that man would’ve put his hands on me. I would’ve immediately swung on him. Immediately.”
(h/t @gifdsports )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 26, 2025
In fairness to Stephen A., the video was clipped without context and he took to social media to rightfully clear that up:
Nice try folks. On my show, I said I would’ve swung on @KingJames had he slapped me — like lots of y’all said I was scared he would’ve done a few weeks ago. I also said immediately after that I would’ve gotten my ass thoroughly kicked by the 6’8”, 250lb Goliath, but folks just…
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 27, 2025
But after LeBron had a buzzer-beating tip-in to beat the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night, he still took to Instagram to aim a little joke towards Smith.
LeBron going full troll mode on IG 💀 pic.twitter.com/x11jI9WAhh
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) March 27, 2025
James posting this will only keep the feud going as Stephen A. will now talk about it on First Take and his podcast again on Thursday. While Smith may not be happy about the situation, it seems that LeBron has moved past the point of animosity and is taking friendly jabs. Much like Stephen A. in that video…
LeBron James: Stephen A. Smith has been on Taylor Smith tour run
During his appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, LeBron James also poked fun at Stephen A. Smith for going on a Taylor Swift type of media tour while misinterpreting his confrontation.
“He’s on like a Taylor Swift tour run right now. It started off with ‘I didn’t want to address it. I wasn’t going to address it, but since the video came out, I feel I need to address it.’ Are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait for the video to drop so you could address it, it’s your ass. Like seriously? And another thing, he completely missed the whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job to criticize or be in a position to say something if a guy’s not performing. That’s all part of the game. But when you take it and you get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household, but to protect the players. And I think a lot of the media, including him — and I know he’s gonna be happy as hell, smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him — like relax bro, relax.”
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