“If I never speak to him again in life, I’m good with it” – Stephen A. Smith says he is ready to put LeBron in the rearview mirror originally appeared on Basketball Network.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith addressed his beef with Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James during an appearance on the “Gil’s Arena” podcast. Smith reiterated that he and James don’t like each other and that he doesn’t think anyone can mediate between them to settle their issue.
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Stephen A. also emphasized that whatever he has with LeBron is purely professional and nothing personal because, as a basketball analyst, it is his job to talk about the NBA, and at his workplace, there are directives to discuss particular topics and subjects.
“I don’t talk about him unless I’m asked,” said Smith. “Some people say, ‘Well, why do you talk about him?’ Cause I was asked. This is what I do for a living, so how the hell do I get away with saying ‘No comment?’ I have no desire to talk about him at all.”
SAS says LeBron is out to destroy him
According to Smith, James is the second-best basketball player of all time, behind only the GOAT, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. He praised The King for being an “incredible ambassador” to the game of basketball and admitted that his respect is “earned, not given.” However, that’s just for King James on the basketball court.
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Off the court, Stephen A. suggested that Bron is someone who doesn’t handle criticism well and often takes it personally. Without going into specifics, Smith claimed that James and his team have been working to tear down the reputation he spent years building.
“People don’t know the things that have happened behind the scenes, the kind of things that have been engaged in an effort to hurt me. There’s a lot of s–t that I know that I don’t say. Then, to go on The Pat McAfee Show, which comes on directly after my show on the channel that I work on, to insult me. But if I never ever speak to him again in life, I’m good with it,” the renowned analyst added.
Smith got “too personal”
It can be recalled that Smith had Bronny James as content on his show almost every day during the 2025-26 season. To his credit, the elder James never paid any attention to what Smith said about Bronny’s game or performances. However, Stephen A. got too personal with his now infamous “As a father, I’m pleading you to stop” statement. LeBron took offense with that and confronted Smith courtside during a Lakers game at Crypto.com Arena and said some things to the “First Take” host that Smith described as “aren’t suited for FCC airwaves.“
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That incident touched Smith’s ego and triggered him to go on what James mocked as his version of Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour”, trying to defend himself and explain his side of the beef. Then James appeared on Pat McAfee’s Show and fired shots at Smith, which further infuriated the ESPN host.
It has been five months since their courtside confrontation. LeBron seems to have moved on after Smith stopped talking about Bronny on his show. Stephen A. looks like he has, too, and only talks about their beef when asked. It also helps that he admits he’s fine with never speaking to Bron again, since it’s clear James isn’t interested in giving him any more mileage.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 17, 2025, where it first appeared.