LeBron James joined The Pat McAfee Show today and addressed the viral situation involving ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and his criticism of LeBron’s son, Bronny James. LeBron had stayed silent since the moment circulated online, while Smith has done multiple interviews addressing the exchange and explaining what he was thinking at the time—and how things might’ve gone differently if the conversation had happened in private.
VIDEO
LeBron mocked the idea that Smith’s tone would’ve changed in a different setting, giving NBA fans an earful this afternoon.
“He’s like on a Taylor Swift tour right now,” James said when the topic came up. “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 the need to address it.’ Motha*@$/$ are you kidding me? If there’s one person who couldn’t wait for the video to drop so he could address it, it’s your ass.”
McAfee and his co-hosts laughed and agreed throughout James’ soliloquy—an interesting moment, considering rumors that Smith and the former NFL punter haven’t seen eye-to-eye during Smith’s contract negotiations.
James went on to say that Smith missed the whole point of why he confronted him in the first place.
“Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport or criticize players for what they do on the court. That is your job—to criticize. That’s all part of the game. But when you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job not only to protect my damn household but to protect the players.
“And you know, I think a lot of the media—including him (Smith)—and I know he’s going to be happy as hell and be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him. Oh my God, he’s going to get home, get his ice cream out of the f*{@?!; freezer, and sit in his chair in his tighty-whities on the couch.”
A true trolling session by James—while clearly laying out why the confrontation with Smith happened in the first place.
