“JJ Redick can teach” – Stephen A. Smith brushes LeBron James with old Bronny James take

The discourse surrounding LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith over his comments about Bronny James dominated basketball for over two weeks. The ESPN analyst had quipped for much over the past year that the Los Angeles Lakers rookie was not ready to play in the NBA.

He preferred if James Jr. worked on developing his game in the G League. He believed once the 20-year-old had done what he needed to do, he would eventually come back to playing alongside the big boys. But James Sr. was not having this narrative continue.

The 40-year-old confronted Smith at a Lakers-Knick game at the Crypto.com Arena and asked him to stay off his son. But the ESPN executive producer initially accepted the stance. But soon, he started attacking LeBron James, even calling him ‘weak’ for confronting him publicly.

He did however maintain that he has never spoken ill of Bronny James. Rather, he wants to see the rookie develop into an NBA caliber player. Knowing the discourse now had changed after James Jr. proved everyone wrong with his performance against the Milwaukee Bucks, Smith decided to address the issue.

The 57-year-old journalist emphasized that he did not believe Bronny James would be ready this soon. But this performance made him realize his timing was off. He could not believe how fast the rookie established himself.

Stephen A. Smith insists LeBron James’ intention was different

After the confrontation went viral, ESPN asked Stephen A. Smith to address the issue on First Take. He made it clear that he would not have, had clips of it did not make its way to social media. Which means, he could have swept the incident under the carpet.

But now since the entire world was aware that essentially the face of ESPN was given a dressing down, Smith went on a retaliatory attack. Every avenue he explored, he made it clear that he believed LeBron James confronted him for his recent criticism about the Lakers superstar.

He believes his views about Bronny James were not offensive enough to warrant such a public incident. That is why he believes LeBron James was weak on his part. He could have avoided the entire world from knowing what he clearly felt but instead made it a point to make it public.

Bronny James might not feature much in remaining Lakers games

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently fourth in the West. A few weeks back, they ascended to second. That would have given them the best run to the West Finals and even given them a shot at the NBA Finals. But now, their recent losing streak has made it difficult.

From second to eighth, the West is separated by approximately ten games. More than ten games remain in the regular season, which means, eighth placed Los Angeles Clippers can finish second if everyone else loses.

It also means that the Lakers cannot afford to lose many games. They want to return to second, but for that to happen, they have to their pedal has to be on the floor. That also means, chances of Bronny James playing anything more than garbage minutes is slim. With what is at stake, they cannot take any chances.

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