Some things are better left unsaid. As a legendary journalist who had to keep things off the record to build rapport with players, Stephen A. Smith knows these comments you're about to see are too far.
Stephen A. Smith on LeBron James: "I suggest that he be happy with the things that I haven't brought up. I never brought up really and never really discussed why you were not at Kobe Bryant's memorial service. I never really brought up or discussed why you did not attend Dwyane… pic.twitter.com/Wji02Zidej
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 27, 2025
Smith felt like his feet were being held to the fire after LeBron James' appearance on Pat McAfee's show (McAfee and Smith are the biggest stars on the ESPN network, arguably each other's top competition). James clowned Smith for going on a "Taylor Swift tour" discussing the confrontation between the gentleman.
The point of that confrontation has been lost in translation. After Bronny James played poorly and the Lakers got rocked by the 76ers earlier this season, Smith went on national TV and said, "I'm pleading with you as a father to stop this," referring to Bronny getting NBA minutes.
It's fair game to criticize Bronny's play. Though he's a second-round, 55th-overall pick, he's still an NBA player, and his name generates clicks — clicks are the name of the business. Discussing his play isn't out of bounds, but once you cross that family line, you've gone too far.
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Stephen A. Smith's comments are past crossing the line
LeBron didn't appreciate that, so he approached Smith during a Lakers-Knicks game to discuss the issue. Smith tells players to find him at the games if they have a problem with what he says about them on TV. "I'm not hard to find," he says. LeBron did that and inadvertently gave Smith hours of content to capitalize on that. Playing divide and conquer in the James household was always weird enough, but bringing up Kobe Bryant's memorial is even more egregious.
Smith is acting like the kid at school who starts the jokes at the lunch table, gets joked on back, and then brings up non-joking material. Telling the kid you started picking with, "That's why your mom has cancer," after they defend themselves from the attacks you started, isn't cool.
Again, that's the game now, though. Clicks, clicks, clicks. That's all that matters in the media space we're in today, and Smith knew that bringing up the late great Kobe Bryant to make a point about James' character would dominate headlines today.
He did it. That's what he got the world to do today. Bringing up his absence from Dwyane Wade's celebration is another attempt to play divide and conquer. It's nauseating at this point.
Instead of trying to legitimize Smith's statement about James not being at Kobe's memorial and D-Wade's celebration, let's discuss how talking heads will stoop to the depths of the earth for clicks and shock value.