{"id":240916,"date":"2025-10-21T11:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/240916\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T11:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:45:08","slug":"savannah-is-basketballs-first-lady-stephen-a-smith-hails-lebron-james-family-but-calls-the-los-angeles-lakers-legend-fake-nba-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/240916\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSavannah is basketball\u2019s first lady\u201d \u2013 Stephen A. Smith hails LeBron James’ family but calls the Los Angeles Lakers legend \u201cfake\u201d | NBA News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u201cSavannahSavannah and LeBron James, and Stephen A. Smith (via Getty images) LeBron James<\/a> and Stephen A. Smith have been at odds for quite some time. The renowned ESPN analyst has finally opened up about his issues with \u201cThe King\u201d while speaking on Carmelo Anthony\u2019s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast. Smith admitted that while he respects James\u2019 family, the relationship between the two has soured over time. He also revealed that the NBA<\/a> legend once tried to get him removed from his television role and even called him \u201cfake\u201d behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith opens up on his beef with LeBron James<\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith explained that his feud with LeBron James started after his comments about the veteran\u2019s son, Bronny James. He said he avoids discussing Bronny out of respect for James\u2019 family, especially his wife, Savannah James.\u201cI happen to think that Savannah is the first lady of basketball,\u201d Smith said in the podcast. \u201cI think she\u2019s wonderful. She\u2019s just a wonderful, wonderful human being, and it actually breaks my heart that I could have done anything to make her upset. I call with Gloria, his mom, who has always been wonderful to me, wonderful people. I got nothing to say about them, I got nothing to say about Bronny, who I think could be an NBA player someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith Gets Real on LeBron Beef & Drops Surprise NBA Champs Prediction | Season 3 Premiere<\/p>\n

Smith also claimed that LeBron tried to get him fired from his job multiple times. He stated that the tiny bits of their equation were lost when LeBron James appeared on The Pat McAfee Show.\u201cYou going to turn around and come on ESPN with Pat McAfee? White boy who comes on after \u2018First Take\u2019 on the channel that I\u2019ve worked on and start on? I have the number one show for 13 straight years and counting. There ain\u2019t a day, there ain\u2019t a week, ain\u2019t a month I\u2019ve lost. You going to come on my channel, on a show that comes on after me just to dog me? \u2026 What you dogging me about? Be a man\u201d, Smith added. The 4x NBA champion has had a behind the scenes beef with Smith for quite some time now. However, he has not openly reflected on the matter. <\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith calls LeBron James \u2018fake\u2019 behind the cameras<\/p>\n

For the second time in a few days, LeBron James has been called \u201cfake\u201d. Earlier, similar claims had been made by Russell Westbrook. Now, Stephen A. Smith joined that criticism, saying the Los Angeles Lakers star behaves differently off-camera.\u201cI believe he\u2019s one way publicly, he\u2019s another way privately. He might not be interviewed, and he might not be quoted. But the things he says and the things he\u2019s said to people has gotten back to me. The things he\u2019s tried to do. If it were up to him, I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today. It\u2019s some low, low sh*t\u201d, Smith said. Stephen A. Smith noted that he won\u2019t discuss the matter unless asked again. Meanwhile, the fraternity is patiently waiting to see if LeBron James or his team respond to the claims. Also Read: LeBron James escapes lawsuit after Los Angeles Lakers fan claims he was \u2018duped\u2019 by fake retirement tease<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Savannah and LeBron James, and Stephen A. Smith (via Getty images) LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[1054,3013,1055,355,14828,37058,99,3692],"class_list":["post-240916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-bronny-james","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-savannah-james","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240916","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=240916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}