$100 Million ESPN Man Lays Out Why LeBron James Doesn’t Like Him

Despite their falling out in March after LeBron James confronted him, Stephen A. Smith is committed to 'covering him objectively'.

$100 Million ESPN Man Lays Out Why LeBron James Doesn’t Like Him

Stephen A. Smith, LeBron James (FS Image)

One of the more vexing subplots of the 2024-25 NBA season was the coverage around Bronny James. A lot of people in sports media embarrassed themselves with the way they covered him all around. First they lied about the nepotism involved in the pick, and later when Bronny played badly, the likes of Stephen A. Smith resorted to calling out LeBron James’ ‘bad parenting’ instead of the Lakers’ front office.

Given the way Smith called out Bronny, JJ Redick and LeBron James after Tyrese Maxey put the rookie to the sword, fans knew there would be some retribution coming for the ESPN anchor. It did come by in the month of March, when the Knicks visited Los Angeles and played the Lakers. James confronted Smith and provided him fodder for two full weeks of regular season discourse across platforms.

The beef got so murky between the two that Smith even accused LeBron James of missing the funeral of Kobe Bryant. Although multiple sources hinted that James was present, there is no confirmation either way in public. Yet, the whole spirit of the faceoff left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths. Smith is still trying to milk the whole saga, judging from his latest comments.

The ESPN analyst had an interview with Rolling Stone magazine recently. Having become the highest paid man in sports media with a 5-year, $100 million contract renewal at ESPN, Smith has attempted to raise his profile and become more of a household name. One of the easiest ways to do this is keeping the flames of his beef with James alive. To this end, he answered a question about their kerfuffle in the interview thus:

I don’t like him, and he don’t like me. He’s one of the greatest players who’s ever lived. I’m going to show him that respect, and I’m going to cover him objectively. When he does great, I’m gonna applaud. When he doesn’t do great, I’m not gonna applaud. He hid behind his son, tried to make something out of nothing, as if I was dogging his son, which I was not. The real issue was we don’t like each other. And he used that as an excuse to confront me. I got it.

LeBron James adds more fuel to the fire with his take on ring culture

One of the latest criticisms of LeBron James has been the way he has chosen topics of discussion on his podcast Mind the Game. Initially marketed as an X’s and O’s way of discussing basketball, James has now resorted to chastizing NBA fans for certain types of discourse. He marked out the discussions centered around ring culture for special treatment:

LeBron 2011
LeBron James in 2011 (FS Image)

I wish I had the answer to this. I don’t know why it’s discussed so much in our sport and why it’s the end-all be-all of everything. You sit here and tell me that Allen Iverson and Charles Barkley and Steve Nash wasn’t unbelievable?

However, this take is at odds with the way he has chosen to shape his career. After finding initial success and making his first NBA Finals in 2007, James had three playoff exits before that stage with Cleveland. He bolted to South Beach and formed a Miami Heat superteam to win two championships and reach four finals. The only reason he did this was to establish his legacy by winning championships in an easier way, stacking up the rings missing from Barkley and Iverson’s basketball resumes.

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