Stephen A. Smith has never been shy with his opinions, but his ongoing feud with LeBron James has crossed into deeply personal territory again. In a recent Rolling Stone interview with Danyel Smith, Stephen A. didn’t hold back, reigniting their long-standing tension by accusing LeBron of using his son Bronny James as a “shield” to confront him over deeper personal issues.
“I have nothing to say about that. I don’t like him, and he don’t like me. He’s one of the greatest players who’s ever lived. I’m going to show him that respect, and I’m going to cover him objectively.”
“When he does great, I’m gonna applaud. When he doesn’t do great, I’m not gonna applaud. He hid behind his son, tried to make something out of nothing, as if I was dogging his son, which I was not. The real issue was we don’t like each other. And he used that as an excuse to confront me. I got it.”
This stems from an incident earlier this season, when LeBron approached Smith at a Lakers game and criticized the commentator for crossing the line in how he discussed Bronny James, who recently joined the Lakers as a rookie. Smith has maintained that his comments were strictly professional and not personal, but LeBron clearly saw them differently.
What followed was a firestorm of media appearances, podcast rants, Instagram jabs, and public fallout that dragged in everyone from Adam Silver to Charles Barkley.
When Smith says “I got it,” he clarifies he’s come to terms with their mutual dislike:
“Meaning I understand that we don’t like each other. We’re never gonna like each other. It’s not gonna stop me from doing my job. He’ll be treated just like any other player I cover. Nobody is going to get me to compromise my professional integrity. I don’t have to like you to be fair to you.”
But that “integrity” has been a topic of scrutiny itself. Smith contradicted his long-standing stance that he welcomes players confronting him, admitting he’s had face-to-face talks with athletes in the past.
Yet when LeBron did it, Smith exploded across ESPN platforms, calling LeBron’s approach “weak” and suggesting the four-time champion was weaponizing fatherhood to hide deeper grievances.
Things escalated further when LeBron clapped back on The Pat McAfee Show, mocking Smith’s media circuit, calling it a “Taylor Swift-level tour” of self-promotion.
Hours later, LeBron posted a vintage clip of Smith boxing and sarcastically captioned it with laughing emojis. Smith fired back on his podcast, saying if the confrontation had gotten physical, “I would’ve put hands on him.”
From there, Smith began pushing questionable narratives, claiming LeBron was absent from Kobe Bryant’s memorial, and later slamming him for missing Dwyane Wade’s Hall of Fame induction. He was fact-checked both times: LeBron was at Kobe’s tribute, and Bronny had suffered a cardiac arrest just weeks before Wade’s ceremony, explaining his absence.
At one point, things got so out of control that even NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed it, and Charles Barkley publicly criticized LeBron, accusing him of bullying Smith through his platform.
Now, with Stephen A. once again stirring the pot, framing LeBron as manipulative and petty, it seems this saga is far from over. What began as a disagreement over coverage of Bronny has ballooned into one of the NBA’s most bizarre and bitter public rivalries between a player and a pundit.
And with Bronny now on the Lakers, the cameras and the microphones aren’t turning away anytime soon.
