Brad Penner via Imagn Images/ESPN
Video from the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against the Boston Celtics appears to show LeBron James detailing why he confronted Stephen A. Smith. LeBron had confronted Smith a few days earlier over comments he made about his son Bronny James.
Prior to the Lakers vs. Celtics matchup on Saturday, March 8 — which the Celtics won by a score of 111-101 — LeBron James was seen on the court catching up with ESPN broadcaster Richard Jefferson, who spent many years as his teammate.
While the duo attempted to obscure their conversation by blocking their mouths with their hands, cameras picked up part of what James said RJ, apparently telling him that what bothered him about Stephen A. Smith’s comments is the fact that he was ‘pleading to him as a father’.
“That’s the only thing I’m tripping,” James said, continuing, “I don’t give a f—. Once he talks about, ‘I’m pleading to you as a father.’ I can’t.”
At the time of this writing, Elon Musk’s zombie version of Twitter is broken, so we can’t embed the clip here — you’ll have to click over to the video on X to watch it.
The comments that Smith made that angered LeBron came on First Take the morning after the Lakers loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on January 28 in which Bronny James played a season-high 15 minutes and scored zero points and missed all five of his field goal attempts.
“I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this. Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad. How are you doing him favors? We know that he’s not ready yet. And I’m saying this with compassion,” Smith said.
“You know what these numbers mean. You know what it’s going to do to your son, to people that are missing out on opportunities, that are busting their tail on other NBA teams and the G League and Europe and everywhere else, what kind of opportunity they’re starving for. You’re exposing your son like this?”
By confronting Smith, however — who said that following day that either LeBron or those close to him have his phone number and could have reached out — LeBron played right into SAS’ hands by giving him days if not weeks worth of content.