LeBron James used ESPN radio to deal with a feud with one of the network's biggest stars.
James sat in a lengthy interview with Pat McAfee that aired Wednesday, speaking to his confrontation with Stephen A. Smith on March 6th when he first won the Knicks 113-109.
“He missed the whole thing completely, James said. That's your job to criticize… It's all part of the game. When you take it and get it personally, it's about protecting my damn household, as well as protecting the players. I think a lot of media, including him, will make him happy like hell when he hears me talking about him.”
According to Smith, James had problems with the comments the ESPN star made about his son Bronnie.
“I'm pleading with LeBron James as a father: stop this, stop this,” Smith said on Jan. 29th episode of “First Take” on ESPN. “We all know that Bronnie James is in the NBA for his father.”
Smith then spoke at length about the incident, including interviews with ESPN, his YouTube show and other outlets.
“I turn around and he's here in my face and say, 'Yes, you have to stop talking about my son. [Bronny]. You have to stop F-keying with my son. It's my son, it's my son! “,” Smith said in an interview with the “Gill's Arena” podcast.
James chuckled at him for the number of times he discussed the incident.
“He's like a Taylor Swift tour now,” James said. “It was like, 'I didn't want to deal with it… but since the video was released, I feel I need to deal with it.' You couldn't wait until the video came out so you could handle it. ”
LeBron returned to court on Saturday after two weeks of absence after suffering a gro caliber injury in the Lakers' next game against the Celtics.
Bronnie has played some of his best basketball since the controversy broke out.
He scored a career-high 17 points with the Lakers injured against the Bucks on March 20th, then exploded with 39 points on Monday for the Lakers G-League team.
Bronnie bouncing his rookie season between the NBA and G-Leagues after being drafted in the second round by the Lakers.
