The ongoing volley of comments between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith continued Thursday as Smith used his platform on ESPN’s ‘First Take’ to respond to what James said a day earlier on the ‘Pat McAfee Show.’
It all began earlier this year with Smith questioning whether James’ son Bronny deserved to be on an NBA roster to start the season. After video surfaced of Smith and James having an animated discussion in the middle of a game in early February, the two have been embattled in a rather public spat.
On McAfee’s show, James claimed Smith misunderstood his reasoning for the on-court confrontation and that he was responding as a father to criticism of his son.
After addressing those comments on his podcast later in the day, Smith used his ESPN platform Thursday to elaborate further.
Stephen A. Smith responds to LeBron James
‘(LeBron) continues to lie to the world about what I said and who I was pointing the finger at,’ he said on ‘First Take.’
‘He said, ‘I have no problem with you talking about the game,” Smith asserted. ‘What did I say about Bronny James, other than at the time he wasn’t ready? That was it. I said nothing else.
‘So if that’s the issue — and I pointed to LeBron James and the fact that you circumvented a meritocracy just to get your wish at the expense of the credibility of the league in some people’s eyes — that’s talking about you. That’s not talking about your son.’
Smith went on to call James ‘petty’ for criticizing him, claiming the 21-time All-Star was ‘butt-hurt over the things I’m saying.’
He went on to suggest that the feud had become personal for James because Smith doesn’t recognize LeBron as the greatest basketball player of all-time. ‘That belongs to Michael Jordan,’ Smith stated emphatically as he continued on a nearly three-minute mini-rant on the subject.
In all, Smith’s ‘First Take’ monologue lasted for almost 16 minutes and included a bit of a challenge for James to continue his criticism. Smith intimated his constant presence on TV will always give him the last word.
‘This is my lane, bro,’ Smith said.