Stephen A. Smith Reveals Why LeBron James Confronted Him At Lakers Game

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith revealed the reason behind a tense exchange between him and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James Thursday night.

During the Lakers’ 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks Thursday night, James approached Smith (who was sitting courtside as a fan) and started confronting the broadcaster. A clip of the confrontation went viral on social media, prompting Smith to address the conversation on First Take this morning.

Evidently, the frustration from James’ perspective stems from a comment Smith made about James’ son, Bronny. In January, Smith insinuated that Bronny was in the NBA in large part because of LeBron’s position of influence on the Lakers.

"We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad. The first game of the season, opening night, the Griffeys in attendance, father-son duo playing in an NBA game for the first time, an absolutely, positively wonderful story. And then reality sets in," Smith said. It’s worth noting that after he said this, Smith remarked that he was rooting for Bronny’s success.

However, James thought those comments crossed a line, and as a result, he told Smith how he felt about those remarks (he obviously didn’t approve).

"That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me, that was a parent, that was a father. I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in that regard," Smith said. By all accounts, he’s obviously a wonderful family man and father who cares very, very deeply about his son, and based on some of the comments he had heard or shall I say I think he thought he heard, clearly took exception to some of the things he heard me say, and he confronted me about it."

LeBron James Confronted Stephen A. Over Comments Made About Bronny James

Smith continued that whatever comments he previously made about Bronny were seemingly taken out of context.

"I hope he flourishes into an NBA star," Smith said. "… I don’t know anybody who roots against him, it certainly isn’t me. But in the same breath, at the time we were talking about him, he was percolating to such a degree that the Bronny James stories had gone viral. And so we have to talk about it. And when I said the things that I said, I wasn’t talking about Bronny James because my attitude is he’s a rookie, he’s going to take some time to get himself together, he’ll be just fine, especially with [Lakers coach] JJ Redick and the staff coaching him.

James has yet to make a statement on the matter. You can see Smith’s full comments in this video.