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It is said that sometimes the best defense is the offensive. LeBron James adopted this approach on Thursday evening when he confronted Stephen A. Smith short in a Lakers match and scolded him, telling him in uncertain terms to stop talking about Bonny James, the son and his teammate from Lebron.
Smith, who would have accepted a 100 million dollars contract over five years to continue his long career with ESPN, replied Friday morning by opening “First Take” with a moderate explanation of the reason why LeBron James was angry with him.
First of all, however, he confirmed the subject addressed that James approached.
“It was LeBron James who came to me, unexpectedly, I could add, for confronting me to make sure I pretend to be what I say about his son,” said Smith. “I can’t repeat the words because they are not suitable for FCC waves.”
Smith asked why James had chosen to confront him during a match at Crypto.com Arena, where the Lakers beat the New York Knicks in overtime, rather than in private by a telephone call or a face -to -face meeting. And he said he recognized that James was talking not as a “superstar basketball player”, but as a “dad”.
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But the central point of Smith was that his previous criticism had been directed against LeBron, not Bonny, saying: “I was talking about the position [Bronny] was put by his father. “”
Before Bonny was drafted in June by the Lakers, LeBron clearly indicated that he wanted his son to be his teammate, and Smith was one of many journalists who thought that the union was forced and exerted excessive pressure on the 19-year-old player whose only experience beyond the high school was 25 games as a role player at the USC.
For his part, Bronny did not express the same enthusiasm, saying that the NBA scout combination a month before the project: “My dream has always been to get my name out, to make a name for myself, and of course, you know, arrive at the NBA. … I never thought of playing with my father, but of course he is, he spoke about it several times. “”
Smith paraphrased his reaction to LeBron’s efforts to make sure that Bonny was drafted so that they could play together, saying: “” It is the man, this is the situation in which you put it “. This is where I came from.”
The columnist of Times, Bill Plaschke, expressed similar concerns, writing the day when the Lakers made Bonny their second round choice: “Does Bronny really need this kind of pressure? Is it really fair to ask him to develop his game while being on the same bench as the greatest player in history who also happens to be his father?”
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As LeBron had long been planned in the first Lakers match on October 22, when Bronny arrived in the match in the second quarter. They played less than three minutes together, Bronny missing his first two NBA shots, but they became the first father-son duo to play a NBA match together.
In 76 minutes on 18 appearances, Bronny scored 25 points, making 25.8% of his shots. He behaved better in seven games from the G League, with an average of 13.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists while playing a solid defense.
“I only have the best wishes for Bonny James,” said Smith. “I hope he flourishes in an NBA star.”
Smith, who was sitting in the match with the CEO of Endeavour Ari Emanuel and actor Larry David, said that he had recognized that James was “very, very upset” and refused to respond in such a public environment.
“He and I don’t necessarily dress. … We don’t see the eyes,” said Smith about James. “None of us lose sleep. It’s like that for years. It was as if he said:” Keep it between me and you. “”
“As a father, I understand. … If I was in his position, I cannot definitely say that I would not have done the same thing. I do not blame him at all.”
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Smith concluded his comments by saying that even if he sympathized with the defense of his child’s LeBron, he stood under his criticism in the air.
“What I said about LeBron is based on facts because of what he said and the things he said leading to his son in writing and finally in the NBA in the same team as him,” said Smith. “There is no way to get around this. And when you are raised as a journalist professionally, you don’t want enemies, but you are not paid to make friends. You have to call it as you see.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
