A compilation video of Stephen A. Smith inviting various athletes to step to him in public to discuss any issues they might have with his commentary, is circulating on social media and fans are now accusing ESPN’s $100 man of being a hypocrite, after he described his courtside confrontation with LeBron James as weak.
In the first clip, Smith is on a podcast, rocking his traditional solid color shirt and chain with some designer shades on as he discussed an interaction, he had with NBA star Kyrie Irving.
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“We were at the Staples center,” Smith said. “Kyrie rolls up on me. He taps me on the back. He’s like, ‘You still got that same energy face to face,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m standing here ain’t I?”
The next clip goes to Stephen A. Smith on a show addressing some issue he had with a player (who is not identified in the clip), that sounds like Kevin Durant.
“You never saw me at games for the better part of the last 25 years. I’ve been at an average of 120 games a year. You didn’t see me? You didn’t see me sitting courtside with your former owner? You didn’t see me at a couple Phoenix games? You didn’t see me there?”
Then the video cuts to a clip of Smith openly inviting players to come talk to him and cuss him out.
“Kobe can vouch for this, DWade can vouch for this, CP (Chris Paul) can vouch for this, Melo…others. There’s a lot of people that can vouch for this. All you gotta do is come talk to me. I don’t have to agree with you. We can cuss each other out. It doesn’t matter.”
Next clip was from another podcast where Stephen A. Smith is pontificating about manhood, comparing himself to MJ and painting his sports talk beef in a light that makes it seem like he would be ready to take it to another place if pressed.
“He’s a man and it’s like you gonna deal with him on the real. MJ’s another cat who’s real).”
LeBron Came To See Stephen A. Smith After Numerous Invitations On Air
Well LeBron definitely pressed him, and Smith first says he didn’t understand what LeBron was saying. Then he does a podcast tour, including his own several times and Gil’s Arena and starts to bash LeBron and insist that he was criticizing LeBron’s parenting and not Bronny, which really didn’t help the situation. If it’s all theatre to Smith, LeBron called his bluff in the eyes of many fans who side with LBJ on this issue.
In the next clip, Stephen A. Smith is talking to co-host Molly Qerim about the old NBA days and why LeBron’s era is soft.
“Lets not ignore the level of physicality that once existed in the NBA. These guys would roll up and find you in the restaurant or lobby before the game. It wasn’t talk. In the game it was physical. Off the court it would be physical. They saw each other, know what I’m saying? LeBron and them don’t have to deal with that.”
In the final clip Smith is on a podcast coach once again talking about confrontation, saying, “You can come to me and it can be real. If I say something publicly wrong, I’m not going to apologize privately.”
LeBron gave Stephen A. Smith a chance to apologize or say whatever he had to say face-to-face and it didn’t look like Smith wanted to engage at the time. His money box however kept rolling after the incident, where he stated that he didn’t appreciate LeBron “confronting” him, and he didn’t feel that was the proper professional setting.
Stephen A. Smith Continues To Go On Podcasts And Talk Tough
According to reports, LeBron apparently warned Smith to keep Bronny’s name out of his mouth. Smith says Bron also told him he was “ f—ing with my son.”
Smith went on Gil’s Arena and had plenty to say after the fact.
“Had he said that to me then I wouldn’t have been thrown off,” said Smith. “I would have came right back at him. Yes, I was. I was talking about you. You did this sh–, which I’ll get to in a second. But because he didn’t do that I said fine and let it go. Mind you, I just agreed to my contract. I’m courtside. That day was when it was announced. It’s all over. All over everywhere. It’s a nationally televised game. The cameras are rolling. And I’m like if I do anything it’s gonna be a scene.”
“Now we can sit up here and front all we want to and act like we don’t work for somebody,” Smith continued. “Dammit, I work for Walt Disney. And if I had gotten into some sh*t with him at courtside right there in that moment, no matter how right I would have been, it would have been wrong. And I was like, I’m not gonna do this, but once I saw the tape of him talking to Richard Jefferson Saturday night in Boston that was when I got really pissed because that was confirmation.”
Stephen A. Smith Switched Up With LeBron Front and Center
The video proves that Stephen A. Smith held some culpability in the situation by taunting players and throwing subliminal messages and challenges over the airwaves until it reached this boiling point where LeBron James, of all people, felt it was out of hand enough to take Smith up on his challenge.
Any way you slice it, to many, SAS’s reaction to LeBron seems like a tough guy act. If you’re going to blame LeBron for answering the shoutout, then you have to question whether or not ESPN’s $100M man is keeping it real, digging at LeBron, who doesn’t care for him because MJ will always be Smith’s GOAT, or putting on a show at the expense of Bronny James.
