Stephen A. Smith continued his self-initiated mission to explain why LeBron James angrily confronted him on a basketball court last week.
For those who don’t recall, James menacingly got into a heated conversation with Smith as a means to intimidate the ESPN analyst into favorable coverage of himself and his son, Bronny, who got himself a charity slot on the Lakers bench.
James was visibly upset during the exchange, while Smith shook his head and sat down while LeBron stomped off.
Lip readers had speculated that James was yelling about his son, and Smith later confirmed that the man who had gone after him did so as “a father.”
Smith again spoke on the matter on The Stephen A. Smith Show, where he suggested James said to him, “Stop s—ting on my son.”
And yet, Smith went on to claim the clash wasn’t actually about Bronny. Huh?
Stephen A. Smith Again Tries To Explain Why LeBron James Went After Him
Stephen A. Smith began by insisting he will not, and never has, spoken poorly about LeBron’s son, Bronny James.
“I’ve never, ever, ever been about being critical of Bronny. I’ve gone out of my way, being who I am in the position that I am in, to avoid even critiquing him for years out of respect for the James family,” he said.
But that’s not entirely true.
Smith pleaded with LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers several weeks ago to end the failed Bronny experiment.
“I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: stop this. Stop this,” he said at the time. “We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”
He was correct and justified in his critique.
The sports analyst, though, again implied that the criticism and LeBron’s reaction were about ‘The King.’ Listen to this wild verbal gymnastics:
“It was about him. Those are his words. Once he said as a father, that was about him. Which was my point January 29th. It’s been about you. I don’t want to have a critical word about Bronny James at this stage of his career. It was never about Bronny. I wouldn’t do that to a kid. It was about his dad. And it wasn’t about his dad wanting him in the NBA. It’s about the things he said. And the things he maneuvered and manipulated in order to get his son to wear the same uniform as him.”
Bro, that makes it completely about Bronny. What the hell is wrong with you? Not to mention, he’s not a “kid.” He’s a first-year NBA player who just signed a four-year guaranteed contract with the Lakers. He’s subject to criticism.
RELATED: WATCH: An Angry LeBron James Confronts Stephen A. Smith After Lakers Game
He’s Not Going To Take It Anymore
After taking some obvious heat from LeBron James, Stephen A. Smith declared that he wasn’t going to take the criticism anymore.
“I want to get into a conversation about me because of how some folks have been attacking me,” he said. “Not over this, but using this as an excuse of how I am hating on the brothers.”
“I’m sick of that s—. I’m not backin’ up from that anymore. I’m not taking it anymore. I’m not just a black man, I’m a brother. I’m not gonna take this s— anymore.”
For some reason though, he keeps explaining that he didn’t really mean to insult Bronny, that none of it was even about Bronny, and how he “would never speak negatively about Bronny” again.
Stephen A. – That is the very definition of ‘taking it.’ Stop embarrassing yourself.
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