Lebron James and Stephen A Smith were caught exchanging words in person before their online back-and-forth.
During this past year's NBA draft, with the 55th pick, the Los Angeles Lakers selected Lebron James Jr, otherwise known as Bronny James. Bronny had a decent first year at USC, the college he attended before entering the draft. After suffering cardiac arrest prior to his first college season, Bronny was sidelined for a while before he was able to step back on the court and do what he loves. When the draft finally came around in June of 2024, both Lebron and his son made history by becoming the first father-and-son duo ever to play on a basketball team together. This astonishing feat and unprecedented accomplishment brought forth many questions, especially from those in the sports media.
Is Bronny even good enough to play in the NBA? He was only drafted because he is Lebron's son! He isn't NBA-ready! Is this nepotism in sports at the highest stage?
Lebron and Bronny have heard it all since Bronny arrived in LA. The James family hardly responded to any public criticism for a long time, instead choosing to block out the noise in efforts to not feed into the backlash. They even shared rookie-veteran-style pranks on the internet to show the world how unbothered they were. That was, until sport media mogul and leading journalist Stephen A Smith made some remarks that crossed the line in the eyes of Lebron.
Stephen A. has been very open and vocal in his criticism of Bronny playing in the NBA, yet his rant on ESPN's premier sport talk show, First Take, following the Lakers blowout loss to an underperforming Philadelphia 76ers team on January 28th sparked the feud between these sporting icons. Stephen A. Smith begged Lebron to stop exposing his son in the NBA after a lackluster display from Bronny in a game where he received an uptick in playing time. This led to Lebron confronting Stephen A. Smith during a Lakers victory against the New York Knicks on March 6th. This viral clip of the brief yet intense interaction between the two has opened up a can of worms that has brought PR professionals to the forefront of the feud, as it has spiraled in a personal direction. Stephen A. went onto First Take the following morning and explained that his PR team and those at ESPN wanted him to shine a light and give attention to a situation he claims he had no interest in addressing.
In the following weeks, Stephen A. spoke about Lebron and the Lakers many times. Whether or not this was because of the incident, the Lakers were a consistent talking point on First Take. Tensions between the two died down until the flames reignited when Lebron joined ESPN and sports reporter Pat Mcafee on his talk show this past Tuesday, March 26th. The full conversation saw the two cover many topics, however, Lebron spent a few minutes addressing the Stephen A. situation with humor and slight instigation.
Following his appearance on the Pat Mcafee show, Stephen A. went on his own radio show and said he would have "immediately swung on Lebron" had he put his hands on him during their face-to-face. Lebron took to Instagram to share an old video of Stephen A. boxing, in an attempt to make fun of the reporter for his comments. The following morning, Stephen A. alluded to the idea that Lebron's PR team set Lebron up with a great opportunity to speak about the situation, since he has rarely gone on talk shows throughout his career.
The full rant on First Take showed an agitated Stephen A. referring to Lebron as "petty" for posting the boxing video and "butthurt" over the things Stephen A. has said. He even sourly questioned Lebron for not showing up to Kobe Bryant's memorial service but was instructed by his PR team to apologize for the false claims.
The sporting icon and one of sports media's most beloved personalities have once again seen themselves at the forefront of basketball news, however, for the wrong reasons this time. As this feud comes to a halt, it will be extremely interesting to see if anything more arises from it. As PR professionals in the sporting world wait on standby until the back-and-forth officially stops, journalists and athletes everywhere can take note of the positive and negative press that stems from such a public incident. Whose side are you on? Are both of them in the wrong, or are both of them right for defending themselves? Thank you for tuning in and come back soon for the next post!
