LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith have been in an ongoing feud for the last week or so, stemming from comments the ESPN host made about Bronny James and LeBron as a father. James approached Smith during a Los Angeles Lakers game and appeared to tell him to stop talking about him and Bronny the way he has been.
Smith then spoke about the encounter for 10 minutes on the following day’s episode of First Take and some other shows. All of this left fans wondering if James and Smith were going to enter a long-term battle over this topic. And the person that might be most in the know on this situation is James’ agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
Paul and James have been in lockstep for years, forming one of the most powerful agent-player duos in all of sports. On the Pat McAfee Show, Paul spoke about the beef between LeBron and Smith, and quelled any concerns about James’ long-term anger towards the ESPN host:
“Yeah, I mean I didn’t think it was much. I think that, as adults, you try to handle things the best way possible and so, I was glad they were able to move on. It’s tough. Anytime you have media platforms, and there’s so many today, and these guys, as much as they critique, sometimes the critique can be felt as if it’s a little bit more than that. There’s a balance there to try to maintain, and so for me, I just try to focus on the business of it and keep the personal stuff away. Sometimes you have those things, but we’ve moved on. It was a dust-up and we’ve moved on.”
The Lakers star has tried as much as possible to stay out of the discourse surrounding his son and simply allowing him to be his own player. But some things cross the line, especially when Smith pleaded with James, as a father, to stop Bronny from continuing to play.
It’s good that James and his team have moved on from the entire situation, as there is no need for LeBron to stay involved when he has an injury rehab and a Lakers championship bid to focus on on the court.
LeBron James happy to have Markieff Morris back on Lakers
One of the smaller parts of the blockbuster deal that brought Luka Doncic to the Lakers was the return of Markieff Morris. Morris was a buyout addition, and later a legitimate contributor, to the 2020 NBA Championship Lakers team. And LeBron James, for one, is happy to have Morris back in purple and gold.
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