The public feud between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith is back on.
Appearing with Pat McAfee on Smith’s home turf, ESPN, King James sounded off on his confrontation with the First Take host during a recent NBA game.
James was still angry over Smith’s public comments about his son Bronny James. After a bad game by the younger James in January, Smith went on First Take and said, “I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this. Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.” To his credit, Smith also said he’s rooting for Bronny James, calling him a “wonderful” young man.
That led to James confronting Smith courtside after the Lakers’ 113–109 win over the Knicks on March 6. During his lengthy interview on The Pat McAfee Show, the Lakers superstar mocked Smith for repeatedly discussing their mano-a-mano showdown on various TV shows and podcasts.
“He’s like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now,” James said. “It started off with, ‘I didn’t want to address it. I didn’t want to address it, I wasn’t going to address it. But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.’ Motherfucker. Are you kidding me? If there’s one person that couldn’t wait ’till the video dropped, so you could address it, it’s your ass.”
James says Smith got personal and didn’t limit his critiques to basketball.
“He completely missed the whole point. The whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport. Criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job. … But when you take it, and you get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household, but protect the players.”
“Stephen A Smith is on a Taylor Swift tour run right now 😂😂
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 26, 2025
He completely missed the whole point..
He got personal with it and it’s my job to not only protect my own household but also all the players” @KingJames #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/LKKFmvtFWM
ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst also caught some stray fire from James. “I saw Brian Windhorst on one of these shows not too long ago. … This guy says he’s like my fucking best friend. These guys are just weird.”
Last year, my colleague Ryan Glasspiegel reported that Smith and McAfee had a shouting match over a disagreement involving a project produced by Smith’s production company. The two sides said that they’d smoothed things over. Could James ripping Smith on McAfee’s show lead to bad blood between the two ESPN superstars? We’ll see.
Smith is almost certain to respond to James’s McAfee appearance on First Take as well as his eponymous YouTube Show/podcast. So get ready for LeBron vs. Stephen A., Round Two.
