LeBron James confronted Stephen. A Smith on the court during Thursday night’s game between the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, and a portion of the exchange was captured by a fan.
A video that went viral early Friday morning showed a very angry-looking LeBron scolding Smith about something during a break in the action at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, Calif. It is unclear what James was upset about, but there was plenty of speculation.
Lip-readers think James was angry with Smith over Smith’s criticism of LeBron’s son, Bronny James. LeBron may have said something to Smith like, “Keep my son out of this, bro.”
Smith, who agreed to a massive new contract with ESPN this week, has been critical of LeBron and the Lakers over their handling of Bronny. Like many others, Smith feels the younger James is not yet ready for the NBA. Bronny has bounced back and forth between the NBA and G League, and Smith believes Bronny only belongs playing in the latter for now.
Smith has rattled off Bronny’s stats on the air to illustrate how out of place the young guard is in the NBA. During an episode of “The Stephen A. Smith Show” earlier this year, Smith said members of LeBron’s camp had been texting him about Smith’s criticism of the situation with Bronny.
Bronny has played 76 total minutes for the Lakers this season. He is shooting just 25.8% from the field and has averaged 1.4 points, 0.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. He played four minutes in Tuesday night’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans and went 1-of-3 from the field.
If LeBron’s issue with Smith is that Smith has criticized Bronny, LeBron is out of line. Bronny has had some big moments in the G League, but he is completely in over his head in the NBA.
Part of Smith’s job is to analyze the NBA, and the Bronny James story has been a big one. LeBron has made it bigger than it has to be by insisting that his son gets some NBA exposure, even if he clearly is not ready.
