Stephen A. Smith’s longstanding feud with LeBron James should have been over with months ago. Smith was one of the more critical sports voices concerning Bronny James’ NBA career. When King James ushered his son into the league with the L.A. Lakers and then bragged about the perceived nepotism, Smith was leading the charge when it came to calling out Bronny James for his unimpressive rookie season.
The feud came to a head during a courtside confrontation on March 6, 2025, during the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena
The confrontation happened during a timeout in the Lakers–Knicks matchup. Smith, who was sitting courtside, was the target of LeBron’s direct message after Smith had recently criticized Bronny James’ NBA career on ESPN’s “First Take,” saying Bronny should be developing in the G League.
Smith later described the moment as “unexpected” and said LeBron came up to him “to confront me about making sure that I mind what I say about his son.”
While the confrontation went viral and then led to more verbal exchanges between the two in public, James stopped addressing Smith altogether.
But SAS continues to make his rounds on podcasts speaking about James and that incident and recreating it for the viewers. Each time, it gets more sensational.
Stephen A. Smith Says He Backed Down From LeBron James To Protect His ESPN Bag
On a recent podcast with former NBA star Kevin Garnett, Stephen A. Smith says he wasn’t intimidated when LeBron James confronted him over his comments about Bronny, but didn’t want to escalate things because he had just signed a deal with ESPN and wasn’t about to risk his money
“If I get into this sh-t right now, it might affect my money,” Smith told KG.
Garnett told Stephen A. that attacking somebody’s son can make parents delusional and more aggressive.
Smith responded:
“You’ll appreciate what I’m about to say because you’ve known me for too long and you know I’m not going to lie to you. This man, I’m over him. I’m not mad. I’m moving on. I wish you nothing but the best. If the man ever wanted to talk to me, I can talk to him. Initially, I was like ‘Fk that MFer he can kiss my ass.
“I have no issues with LeBron. When he rolled up on me that night, I was sitting courtside (with my representatives). It is the night ESPN had just announced my new contract, that day. I went to the game that night…It’s the third quarter during the timeout and I’m talking. I turned around….”
Smith says he wasn’t scared he was surprised because he had been sitting there for three quarters.
“As the days went and I started looking at the tape I got pissed. I wasn’t initially, I was shocked,” SAS told Garnett.
Smith said Bron started berating him about his son. Smith also says he let it go because of the time, place and what was at stake.
Garnett asked SAS if he thought LeBron was going to hit him.
“He wanted to make a scene,” Smith added, while also reminding KD that his bodyguard breaks people in half.
“The first thing that came to your mind was your bread,” KD responded with some skepticism.
To see Smith continue to adjust and massage the narrative that he backed down from LeBron James is more theatrical relief than anything. Nobody truly believes that any kind of physical confrontation was ever going to happen. Both LeBron and Smith were performing for the cameras because a private conversation between the two would have served the matter just as well. Instead, they both decided to put on a show in front of a national audience. Both had too much to lose to actually throw hands.
Fans have various opinions on the matter. Both LeBron and SAS are polarizing figures who enjoy love-hate relationships with the general public.
“He sure looked scared as hell,” one user commented on X about LeBron.
“The biggest cap artist in broadcasting. Not KG. The other person speaking,” a critic said.
“He telling the story like we ain’t see it,” a fan agreed.
“Lmao SAS still talking about this shows how much it hurt him. He got g checked in front of millions for the world to see and sat down & played his position,” expressed another X user responding to the interview clip on X.
Once Smith started hearing the narrative that he was afraid of LeBron and didn’t want the smoke, he continued to taunt LeBron with interviews such as these, because those moments tend to help Stephen A. Smith. The NBA world seems to be ready to put this feud to bed, because it’s very one-sided at this point.
