There’s an ongoing beef between Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and longtime ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. It started last season, when Smith criticized the son of the NBA star, Bronny James. The four-time champion took offense to what was said by the media member, which led him to confront the personality at Crypto.com Arena during a game against the New York Knicks.
Since then, Smith has repeatedly cleared the air that he wasn’t criticizing the young guard. Instead, he pointed out that what he said was directed at James for putting his son in a difficult position. According to the longtime analyst, he believes that the younger James isn’t ready to play in the NBA, given that he suffered cardiac arrest during his time at USC.
Even though the two have made a lot of fuss over their disagreement, James has persistently ignored Smith. In a recent interview, the media personality once again opened their beef by using race as how the Lakers star approaches certain issues.
According to Smith, LeBron James is only willing to accept criticism about himself and his family from a black critic. However, he remains silent when confronted with a white detractor.
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy? Let’s call it like it is,” Smith said on the “Pivot Podcast”. “You ever see him do that? The closest you ever came to seeing him do something like that was when he called out Brian Windhorst. What are you calling out Brian Windhorst for? The man has covered you since high school and has praised you repeatedly, and you used the Pat McAfee situation to go after him.”
WOW: Stephen A. Smith says LeBron James doesn’t treat him like white reporters.
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy like he did with me? Let’s call it like it is the only time he did was when he was making fun of Windhorst who supported him since HS”
pic.twitter.com/rs0g6MqgEY— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) October 17, 2025
“That’s the only time you’ve ever seen LeBron James really go at somebody white,” he continued. “When I did a monologue for 18 minutes, immediately after I was informed that we won’t be hearing more from him about me. That’s what I thought, because I got receipts. Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, and it’s not just him.”
There’s no proof that James uses race when confronting criticism. Smith, on the other hand, stands by his assessment of the four-time MVP.
Stephen Jackson claims that Smith is jealous of LeBron James
The recent episode of “All The Smoke” was released this week and LeBron James became one of the topics of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. During the episode, Jackson commented and said that Smith is jealous of James for being a good father and using his platform to help his children excel.
“People hate on it because they can’t do it for their kids. (If) you can do it for your kids, you’ll be patting him on his back. ‘Stephen A., give me your son, let me get him to the league. Oh, yeah sure,‘” Jackson said with a grimace on his face. “But it ain’t your child, so it’s a problem.”
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Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
