{"id":233726,"date":"2025-10-18T10:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T10:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/233726\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T10:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T10:56:08","slug":"stephen-a-smith-drops-another-cryptic-remark-fueling-debate-over-possible-bias-in-lebron-james-treatment-of-critics-nba-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/233726\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith drops another cryptic remark, fueling debate over possible bias in LeBron James\u2019 treatment of critics | NBA News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"StephenStephen A. Smith and LeBron James. Image via: Getty Images There is an ongoing beef between ESPN\u2019s host and the Los Angeles Lakers legend. That\u2019s right, Stephen A. Smith is not yet over with the dispute between him and NBA<\/a> legend LeBron James<\/a>. In a recent interview, Smith said that James had once confronted him, and that did not go well. He also said that James\u2019 attitude towards critics might have something to do with race. Well, both previously had some arguments regarding Bronny James, LeBron James\u2019 son. The Lakers star also criticized Smith for attacking his son during the third quarter of the match. Here\u2019s what the ESPN host has to say about James\u2019 selective racial confrontations: <\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith questions LeBron James\u2019 selective racial confrontations<\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith appeared in an interview with Ryan Clark on \u201cThe Pivot Podcast\u201d. There, he mentioned some of his interactions with Los Angeles Lakers legend, LeBron James, and his biased confrontations when it comes to critics. He referred to an incident when the NBA legend approached Smith during a match in March. <\/p>\n

Stephen A. on sports to politics, always under fire but responds to criticisms & call outs|The Pivot<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ever see LeBron go at a White boy?\u201d Stephen A. Smith said on the podcast. \u201cLet’s call it what it is. You ever see him do that? You’ll say you saw him come at me\u201d, he continued. He believes that James\u2019 approach towards critics varies with race, and that\u2019s unfair. Stephen A. Smith had already bashed LeBron James once for chasing stats and comparing himself to Michael Jordan. Smith said, \u201cHe\u2019s going to be 41, he\u2019s in his 23rd year, stat-padding his way to make ignorant folks out there think that\u2019s going to make him the GOAT over Jordan \u2014 not realizing that most of the stuff it took him 20+ years to do, Jordan did in 13.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith said that LeBron James jeopardized his image after Bronny James\u2019 incident<\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith also fixated on the fact that LeBron James somehow turned tables and blamed him for something that wasn\u2019t even his fault in the first place. \u201cAnybody with professional ethics, who knows sports and knows what comes with it knows that I did not do anything wrong to that young man\u201d, Smith said. \u201cBut to paint me as somebody that would attack a child, just because I dislike you, it’s low, it’s low\u201d.\u201cThat wasn\u2019t a basketball player confronting me. That was a parent. That was a father. I can\u2019t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in that regard\u201d. Smith said. \u201cBy all accounts, he\u2019s obviously a wonderful family man and father who cares very, very deeply about his son.\u201d Smith also confronted the fact that James is a great father and a family man. Also read: LeBron and Bronny James\u2019 tentative comeback casts a shadow over Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 preseason finale amidst health concerns<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James. Image via: Getty Images There is an ongoing beef between ESPN\u2019s host…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[129882,352,3013,1055,355,129883,99,3692],"class_list":["post-233726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-critics","tag-espn","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-racial-confrontations","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}