Stephen A. Smith is calling out LeBron James.
Smith believes that the Los Angeles Lakers star has a bias against Black journalists.
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy? Let's call it what it is. You ever see him do that?” Smith said on The Pivot podcast.
“You saw him come at me. Closest you ever came to seeing him do something like that [to a white journalist] was when he called out Brian Windhorst,” Smith continued. “What you calling out Brian Windhorst for? The man covered you since junior high school and has praised you repeatedly and you used the Pat McAfee situation to go at him. [T]hat's the only time you ever seen LeBron James really go at somebody white. I'm going to call it what it is.”
Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James beef
The tension between Smith and James heightened this year when they were seen in a heated argument courtside. The verbal exchange occurred back in March when the NBA star approached Smith during the Lakers game against the New York Knicks. While Smith originally said he didn't want to address the video but once the video came out he did on First Take the following day. LeBron believes that Smith couldn't wait for the video of them going back and forth was leaked.
“He’s on, like, a Taylor Swift tour run right now,” LeBron said of Smith at the time per The Pat McAfee Show.
“It started off with, ‘I didn’t want to address it,’” the father of three added. “‘I wasn’t going to address it. But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.’ M——f——, are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait until the video had dropped so you could address it, it was your a**. Like, seriously?”
LeBron is the father to “Bronny” James Jr., 21, Bryce Maximus, 17, and Zhuri Nova, 10. The issue between LeBron and the media personality allegedly rose after Smith made comments about Bronny's performance and that he got in the NBA because of his father. Bronny was the #55 pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft and made history when he played alongside his father as the first son-father duo to play in the league together.
Smith responded to LeBron's take on the situation and called him a “liar” and accused him of hiding behind his son when it's because the NBA star doesn't like him and used the incident to approach him.
“And in this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he is a liar,” Smith said. “And he went on national television… and he lied again.”
“But when he said what he had to say, I was in no position to give any kind of retort without making a scene,” Smith added.
The opening of @FirstTake today responding to the last 24 hours pic.twitter.com/y05Bk57rLa
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 27, 2025
“He hoodwinked you all into thinking that he was upset about criticism about his son,” Smith continued, before adding, “This passive-aggressiveness, and the two-facedness, smile in your face and dig you behind the back… 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. Because there's one person in this ordeal that's telling the truth, and it's me.”
How are Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James now?
The relationship hasn't had any change in recent months but Smith addressed it back and shared that there has been no reconciliation between the two thus far on the Gil's Arena podcast.
“There's no situation and there's no relationship,” Smith told . “He doesn't like me, and I don't like him. There's nobody that can mediate. It's ok. I will tell you that I don't talk about him unless I'm asked.”
Stephen A. Smith gives his unfiltered version of the LeBron confrontation 👀 pic.twitter.com/X4TOV3155a
— Gil’s Arena (@GilsArenaShow) March 11, 2025
“I have no desire to talk about him at all. He is, in my mind, the second greatest player in the history of basketball,” Smith continued. “His respect has been earned, not given, and nobody can deny that. But that's the basketball player, not the man — and all I would say is people don't know the things that have happened behind the scenes.”
LeBron has not reacted to those comments at this time