Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James recently confronted ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith during a game vs. the New York Knicks earlier this month, and their conversation went viral.
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Stephen A. addressed this incident on Gilbert Arenas' podcast two weeks ago, and now seemingly it was LeBron's turn to give his side, while appearing on the Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday.
LeBron pressing Stephen A Smith on National Television and then giving an interview to one of his biggest competitors on the same network is the most hilarious shit ever. This guy is a sicko. 😂 https://t.co/EqmRStWItK
— HiNote. 🛸 (@HiNoteee) March 26, 2025
That is, the NBA's all-time leading scorer cracked some jokes over it all, "He [Stephen A.] like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. It started off with 'I didn't wanna address it, but since the video came out I have to.' He couldn't wait for the video to come out so he could address it," LeBron laughed.
LeBron James on the Stephen A Smith encounter
“He couldn’t wait for the video to come out.”
(Via @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/AigwzQdggG
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) March 26, 2025
"He missed the whole point," he continued. "Never would I allow people to criticize what they do on the court. When you take it and get personal, it's my job to protect my house."
Then the 4x NBA champion/4x MVP added that Stephen A. is seemingly going to like the attention, "He's gonna be happy when he hears me talking about him, just relax bro. Relax."
LeBron even called out his hometown fellow St. Vincent St. Mary's counterpart, reporter Brian Windhorst.
"This guy who says he's my f-cking best friend. These guys are just weird."
- LeBron on Brian Windhorst
(🎥 @PatMcAfeeShow / h/t @Underdog )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 26, 2025
With this in mind, after Pat McAfee's interview with LeBron ended, Stephen A. and Windhorst were then later seen on ESPN's First Take Show sulking.
Stephen A. says LeBron isn’t the GOAT because he let others get in his way
“Nobody was gonna impede Kobe. Nobody was gonna impede MJ. Nobody was gonna impede Duncan ... But him? I believe he would’ve been impeded—which is why I have Jordan”
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 26, 2025
A frustrated Stephen A. doubled down on his 'LeBron is not the GOAT' argument, even though just earlier this month he said he was going to retire that conversation after the 40-year-old (current 25 points per game star) became the first basketball player in the world to score 50k career points.
After eclipsing 50k career points and dominating the NBA as a 40 year old man
Stephen A thinks it’s time to retire the LeBron vs MJ debate
pic.twitter.com/5aOVPf2ePO— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) March 5, 2025
As for if LeBron will ever come on Stephen A.'s podcast, the TV star journalist admitted, "[LeBron] would probably harm somebody if they even approached him about coming on with me."
Stephen A Smith on LeBron James going on with Pat McAfee:
“He’d (LeBron) probably harm somebody if they even approached him about coming on with me.” 😂😂pic.twitter.com/kzBwaeyRge
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) March 26, 2025
