LeBron James has always been a happy, joyful, and family-oriented person. However, critics like Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless have affected him and made him a grumpy, “bitter” old man—or at least, that is what fellow analyst Jason Whitlock thinks.
In one of the recent episodes of his program “Fearless,” Jason Whitlock talked about LeBron James. But this time, he walked the middle ground between criticizing James as well as his critics, too.
In his piece, Whitlock pointed out how LeBron James grew up without a father shaping him. With this, he pointed out how older people who have criticized him “shaped” his personality. In particular, Whitlock pointed out how it was Skip Bayless who started the comparison between LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
“LeBron’s spirit is naturally joyful,” Whitlock said. “How did he become this angry, bitter man that we see today? He was raised in a matriarchal culture and household; he doesn’t know his father. Because of this, he has allowed people like Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith to shape his identity.”
LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith had a heated exchange courtside during a Lakers game against the New York Knicks. The confrontation occurred after the Lakers’ 113-109 victory at Crypto.com Arena. Cameras captured James approaching Smith to address comments the ESPN analyst had made about his son, Bronny James.
Smith later discussed the incident on his show, “First Take,” revealing that LeBron confronted him about ensuring he minds what he says about Bronny. Smith maintained that he stands by his comments and that his job is to cover public figures and their actions.
LeBron James Gets Questioned By Former NFL Champion: “He Can’t Be Talked About?”
In light of the confrontation between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith, former Super Bowl Champion Ryan Clark opened up on social media about his thoughts on the matter, citing how he and LeBron are both fathers.
Being a father himself, Clark made clear that he knew where LeBron was coming from. However, he had a few points to tell the Lakers vet.
“I get approaching (Stephen A. Smith) as a father, but he wasn’t ‘only’ protecting his seed,” Clark said in his post. “He was speaking on behalf of another professional athlete who SAS is paid to analyze. Granted, Bronny gets criticized more than any other 55th pick of the draft, but he also gets more love, money, & opportunity than any other too thanks to his father’s greatness.”
“I just don’t think it helped the narrative that Bronny is only there because he’s LeBron James Jr., & now what? He can’t be talked about?”
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