ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith returned LeBron James’ volley on Wednesday after the Los Angeles Lakers star fired shots at the broadcaster on “The Pat McAfee Show” over their confrontation earlier this month.
James mocked Smith as someone who was going on a “Taylor Swift tour run” over explaining the fiery moment at the Crypto.com Arena. He also poked fun at Smith for saying he did not initially want to address the moment but only did it because the video went viral, and he had to do it.
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The Lakers player said Smith “missed the whole point” of the argument. James said he was not only defending Bronny James, his son, but also his teammate after Smith criticized Bronny for being in the NBA in the first place.
Smith fired back at James later Wednesday on his own podcast. He started off saying James was “full of it” and that he “lied again” on McAfee’s show.
“I didn’t know he was going to roll up on me,” Smith said. “I had no idea. But when he said what he had to say, I was in no position to give any kind of retort without making a scene. It was during the third quarter. It was fresh out of a timeout. It was him walking to the basketball court. It was on national television, the cameras were rolling and had I done something, what do you all want me to do? Do you want me to act like this is a reincarnation of Chris Rock and Will Smith?
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“And let me state for the record, that while we bring up that, let me assure you it wouldn’t have gone down like that. I would have gotten my a– kicked. Because if that man put his hands on me, I would’ve immediately swung on him. Immediately. That, I’m not going to tolerate. But I knew he wasn’t going to do something like that.”
Smith denied “s—-ing” on, nor was he “clapping back,” at Bronny James.
LeBron James addressed this on McAfee’s show.
“And another (thing). He completely missed the whole point, the whole point. Never in my … 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 where, OK, a guy is not performing … that is all part of the game. When you take it and when you get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household but protect the players.”
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