{"id":670893,"date":"2026-05-14T18:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670893\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T18:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T18:09:09","slug":"stephen-a-smith-claims-lakers-do-not-like-lebron-james-or-klutch-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/670893\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith Claims Lakers Do Not Like LeBron James Or Klutch Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen A. Smith<\/a> made explosive claims about the relationship between the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, LeBron James<\/a>, and Klutch Sports Group, suggesting years of tension have finally reached a breaking point behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

Speaking on First Take<\/a>, Smith claimed the Lakers \u2018don\u2019t particularly like\u2019 LeBron and that frustration inside the organization has been building for years because of how LeBron and Klutch Sports allegedly handled narratives around the franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave the Los Angeles Lakers taken LeBron James for granted? Sure, you can make that argument. They don\u2019t particularly like him. That\u2019s what this is about more than anything else. They\u2019ll never admit that. Perk, I\u2019m gonna lean on you. You\u2019ve been doing a great job covering the NBA all these years, and obviously you\u2019re incredibly connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know that Rich Paul and Klutch Sports Group, and by extension LeBron James, turned them off when they made the Russell Westbrook trade that ended up being disastrous. They felt like LeBron wasn\u2019t accepting accountability when narratives were put out there that the organization was the issue and not LeBron James. They knew it wasn\u2019t them putting that stuff out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat have we lamented over the years? As great as he is, LeBron James is on the Mount Rushmore of basketball. One of the greatest players to ever live. He\u2019s also one of the greatest manipulators of narratives we\u2019ve ever seen. There are very few people on Earth more skilled and more committed to controlling narratives than him. That\u2019s the absolute truth. I got proof.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with Kendrick Perkins. I don\u2019t know if you know this, but Perk was on the McDonald\u2019s All-American Game team with LeBron in 2003. That dude was a former teammate and trusted confidant of LeBron James. When he was remotely critical, LeBron cut him off. Blocked him on Twitter or whatever it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMad respect to Rich Paul, who\u2019s done a great job with Klutch Sports. I\u2019m not here to cast aspersions. But we all know how fixated they were, over the years, on manipulating and dictating narratives. The Lakers were on the brunt end of all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLeBron\u2019s greatness is not to be questioned. His commitment to excellence is not to be questioned. His contribution to the Lakers organization is not to be questioned. Certainly, they should have an elevated level of appreciation because they didn\u2019t choose LeBron James. They didn\u2019t win LeBron James. LeBron James chose the Lakers. He could\u2019ve gone anywhere, but he chose them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the Lakers want to make it look differently because they\u2019re the Lakers franchise. Like, you should feel privileged to play for us. Similar to how Jerry Jones feels about the Dallas Cowboys. In most instances, they\u2019re right. But not when it comes to LeBron James. He chose them. There was no sweepstakes they competed in and won.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that doesn\u2019t negate the fact that, because he is who he is and because he\u2019s fixated on controlling narratives, he got on their nerves along the way. When you see reluctance or tension about wanting him back as a player, how could you not want LeBron James? Of course you want him because he\u2019s too great not to. But that doesn\u2019t mean he didn\u2019t get on their damn nerves along the way. That\u2019s what all this is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Los Angeles was just swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in the second round of the playoffs, and uncertainty now surrounds LeBron\u2019s future entering his 24th NBA season. Reports already suggested James believed the Lakers took him for granted throughout the season<\/a> after several incidents involving the organization.<\/p>\n

Recent reports have already revealed growing frustration<\/a> between both sides after Lakers governor Jeanie Buss gave vague answers about whether LeBron deserves a statue<\/a> outside Crypto.com Arena. There were also reports that LeBron felt overlooked after Rob Pelinka<\/a> handed a historic game ball to JJ Redick<\/a> instead of recognizing LeBron\u2019s record-setting career milestone.<\/p>\n

Now the offseason becomes critical.<\/p>\n

Shannon Sharpe recently blasted Rob Pelinka for ruining LeBron\u2019s Lakers tenure<\/a>, while Brian Windhorst discussed how Los Angeles might convince James to accept a pay cut<\/a>. Meanwhile, Skip Bayless argued LeBron<\/a> should have already taken less money if winning was the priority.<\/p>\n

The biggest question now is simple. After years of success, pressure, and growing tension, do the Lakers and LeBron still want the relationship to continue?<\/p>\n

Because for the first time since 2018, a split no longer feels impossible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith made explosive claims about the relationship between the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, and Klutch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-670893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}