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At one point during the past season, both Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James were at the center of attention of the entire NBA world.
In the aftermath of the Los Angeles Lakers’ home game against the New York Knicks back in March, a piece of footage went viral as it caught James approaching Smith, calling out the ESPN personality for his constant negative comments over his son Bronny.
The confrontation sparked a war of words and tirade between the two personalities afterwards. As James argued that he only did what he’s supposed to do for Bronny, Smith insisted multiple times that he’s only doing his job as a media man and pundit.
Appearing on The Pivot Podcast, Smith made it clear that he doesn’t feel proud nor remorseful about how things unfolded for both him and James following their altercation.
"I wouldn't use the word 'proud.' I would tell you that I don’t regret anything I did in terms of handling the situation,” Smith confessed. “I don’t regret it now. And I would tell you, my feelings haven’t changed.
“I don’t like him at all. He doesn’t like me at all. … If you don’t ask me about him, I won’t talk about him. I’ve got a job to do, and he will never interfere with my job. I’m going to be professional."
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Smith noted that while he has ultimate respect for James, whom he considers as the "second-greatest player" and a great ambassador to the game, he’s fully mindful about how the Lakers star secretly operated against him.
“I know the things he’s done behind the scenes. I know the things he’s said behind my back. I know what he tried to do to derail me from being in the position I’m in today. I know that if it were up to him, I’d have been stopped years ago. So, it goes far deeper than I’ll ever get into publicly, Smith said, “Knowing that, I still went on the air and was fair."
As such, Smith revealed that he didn’t like how James painted him negatively as a father and further used The Pat McAfee Show as his platform to address their conflict.
“On Saturday night in Boston, after that happens, you’re talking to Richard Jefferson, my colleague at ESPN, good brother, your former teammate—whispering in his ear. He said something about me as a father and I couldn't take that,” Smith stated. “But when that man went on The Pat McAfee Show just to insult me, that was the final straw.
“I won't take one step back when it comes to him in life ever again, because I've done my job. He took it personal and took it to another level. To come on ESPN just to insult me, with a show that comes on after me? We know what you were doing.”
As the opening of the 2025-26 season approaches, only time will tell if both Smith and James will reignite their personal and basketball issues with each other.
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