Stephen A. Smith said,Mind the Game Podcast The plays by LeBron James and JJ Redick were meticulously calculated.
Smith, the ESPN personality, believes the two were waging their own “mind games” against the league, as Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was in a bind before he was fired.
“JJ is in a different situation because LeBron James and his camp knew that Darvin Ham was in a bind and created that situation by releasing a podcast in the middle of the season,” Smith said sternly on “First Take” Thursday morning.
“No matter what anyone says, it was very egregious behavior… I’m not talking about the podcast itself, I’m talking about the timing.”
The podcast began back in March and features James and Redick covering all things happening on the court.
The podcast has garnered a total of 33.1 million views and 653,000 engaged subscribers.
But Smith thinks something is amiss.
He believes the pair “knew” what they really were doing.
They decided to launch the podcast while Hamm was still coaching in Los Angeles, rather than wait until after the season.
That irritated Smith.
“Any player who puts on a Lakers uniform knows the coach is in a tough spot,” Smith said.
Smith took his argument a step further.
He believes James wanted to showcase Redick’s knowledge of the game and prove he was a worthy head coaching candidate.
“They talk about plays, they talk about schemes, they talk about strategy, they talk about all these things,” Smith said.
Whether or not James intended this, Ham was eventually fired and Redick remains a candidate for the coaching vacancy, which remains unfilled after Connecticut’s Dan Hurley decided to remain in the Big East.
Meanwhile, Redick will be broadcasting the NBA Finals for ESPN.
