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[Saba Sports News] Stephen A. Smith seems a lot tougher now that some time has passed since his courtside clash with LeBron James.
On Wednesday, LeBron appeared on The Pat McAfee Show and addressed the viral moment from earlier this month when he confronted Smith during a timeout. The Lakers star joked that Smith was enjoying a “Taylor Swift tour run” from all the attention and claimed the ESPN analyst completely missed the point of why he was upset in the first place.
Naturally, Smith fired back later that day on his podcast — and things got fiery fast.
“If that man would’ve put his hands on me, I would’ve immediately swung on him,” Smith declared. “Immediately.”
That eyebrow-raising statement — given that Smith is nearly 60 and giving up quite a bit of size to the 6’9″, 250-pound NBA superstar — was just the beginning. Smith also accused James of being “two-faced,” a “liar,” and of doing “shady stuff,” all while lacing his rant with colorful language (viewer discretion advised).
While it’s clear the tension between the two has gotten personal, Smith’s claim that he was ready to throw hands is pretty laughable — especially considering the video showed him in a defensive stance during the exchange.
Add in the fact that Smith is a newly minted nine-figure ESPN personality (and has joked about running for president), and the idea of him squaring up with LeBron sounds more like comedy than combat.
Still, that’s not stopping Smith from leaning into the drama — even if nobody’s buying the Tyson impression.