LeBron James calls out Taylor Swift-like tour run of Stephen A Smith after viral confrontation

LeBron James appeared on "The Pat McAfee Show" today to give his own version of his confrontation with Stephen A. Smith.

LeBron James calls out Taylor Swift-like tour run of Stephen A Smith after viral confrontation

LeBron James, Stephen A. Smith

LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith infamously faced off against each other in a courtside incident during the Lakers’ outing against the New York Knicks this past month. The moment proved to be a veritable gold mine of sorts for the ESPN star, who milked it for all it was worth in the days that came.

Stephen A. Smith first discussed the incident on ESPN’s “First Take” the day after it occurred. He then provided further details on his own podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” A few days later, he appeared on Gilbert Arenas’ “Gil’s Arena” podcast on March 11, 2025, where he expressed a more critical stance on the confrontation. Finally, he spoke about it on Fox News’ “Sean Hannity Show,” emphasizing that LeBron did not physically confront him.

YouTube video

With all of these discussions on the subject after fronting with a stance that he ‘didn’t want to address it’ initially, Smith sounded like an extreme hypocrite and someone seeking validation from the world while rewriting the tone of the incident. What Smith didn’t bargain for, however, was LeBron James doing a press appearance of his own to set the narrative straight.

James appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” today to give his own version of the events. Adding insult to injury for Smith, the Lakers superstar also took the mickey out of him for his extended press run after his warning to Smith. The 40-year-old compared his run of press appearances to the publicity that Taylor Swift gets during her album release cycles and before her world tours.

He’s like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. It started off with ‘I didn’t wanna address it, I wasn’t gonna address it, but since the video came out, I felt the need to address it.’ Are you kidding me? If it’s one person that couldn’t wait till the video would drop so you could address it, it is your a**. He completely missed the whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport or criticize people about what they do on the court.

LeBron James said addressing Stephen A. Smith’s press run

James added that he didn’t confront Smith for just his own son – he also did it for other players. He also predicted how the sports media world would be ‘smiling from ear-to-ear’ at the prospect of covering his additional comments on the issue.

LeBron James calls out Brian Windhorst on The Pat McAfee Show

The amount of ruckus that the LeBron James family suffers due to his stature in basketball is something that would be irritating for anyone on the planet. James has been relentlessly a media interest since the age of 16. And there has been one figure in sports media who has been a constant during his entire public life. That’s ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who’s been on the ‘LeBron James’ beat for the network all this while.

James feels that Windhorst often oversteps his familiarity with his self in the way that Windhorst dissects James’ actions. He stated on “The Pat McAfee Show” how he feels about Windhorst’s demeanor

I’ve seen Brian Windhorst on his shows not too long ago. This guy says he’s like my f**ing best friend. These guys are just weird

LeBron James on Brian Windhorst

It is clear that James has decided on a gloves-off approach to how he’s talked about in media. His demeanor has been coming for a while too – his idea to restart the “Mind The Game” podcast with new co-host and 2-time MVP Steve Nash is just another one in this vein.