Stephen A. Smith has responded to LeBron James following his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show Wednesday, where he spoke about their confrontation during a game earlier this month.
Smith insisted he has no issue with fellow ESPN personality Pat McAfee interviewing LeBron. His problem lies solely with the Los Angeles Lakers star, whom he calls a "liar."
"My issue is with LeBron James," he said at the 6:20 mark of the Stephen A. Smith Show. "And I just want to say, for the record, LeBron James is full of it. And in this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he is a liar. And he went on national television today, and he lied again."
Smith then delivered his account of the much-discussed confrontation in which he recalled James "rolled up on me," adding, "I didn't know he was gonna roll up on me."
"But when he said what he had to say, I was in no position to give any kind of retort without making a scene," he continued.
Stephen A. went on to claim that if James put his hands on him, the 57-year-old ESPN personality "would have immediately swung on him."
"I would have gotten my ass kicked because had that man put his hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him. Immediately," Smith said. "That, I'm not gonna tolerate."
Stephen A. expressed certainty that he never felt the situation would escalate to the point of fisticuffs. He was more taken aback by how everything transpired in the moment.
The First Take commentator took issue with LeBron's remark about confronting Smith because he needed to "not only to protect my damn household but protect the players," seemingly confirming the prevailing narrative that his son Bronny is at the center of the feud.
"I'm getting to a point where I'm getting very annoyed at people who cover the game of basketball, who cover professional sports, pundits out there, including him, his inner circle, his family members, and everybody else included. When are y'all going to ask him, or hold him accountable for the truth?," Smith asked at the 8:15 mark. "I have not been talking about Bronny James. I have not, as LeBron James accused me of doing, to my face, been shitting on his son."
After getting into why Bronny has become a talking point throughout the season for reasons outside of his control, Stephen A. wanted to revisit an earlier comment about LeBron being a generational liar.
"The real point at hand is this: LeBron James continues to lie," he said at the 10:47 mark. "He hoodwinked y'all into thinking that he was upset about criticism about his son."
"Because there's one person in this ordeal that's telling the truth, and it's me," Smith added at the 12:37 mark. "I don't lie to y'all. His ass lies a lot. And there's a lot of shady stuff that he does. And one of the things is this passive-aggressiveness. And the two-facedness, smile in your face and dig you behind the back. I happen to know that about him. Which is why I don't like him. And he don't like me. But it doesn't stop me from being fair and calling it like I see it."
On Wednesday, LeBron James made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, where he discussed his confrontation with Stephen A. Smith at a Knicks-Lakers game earlier this month, saying the ESPN host is on a "Taylor Swift tour run right now."
“I didn't wanna address it. I wasn't going to address it, but since the video came out, I feel the need to address it," LeBron said.
