Shortly after agreeing to a five-year contract to remain with ESPN, Stephen A. Smith attended the Los Angeles Lakers game against the New York Knicks sitting courtside with Endeavor chief executive officer Ari Emmanuel and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David. During a timeout in the third quarter, Lakers superstar forward LeBron James confronted Smith, presumably about comments the ESPN commentator made about his son, Bronny, who was drafted by the team in the second round. In subsequent comments on numerous platforms, Smith clarified that he was talking about James and proceeded to call the confrontation “weak.”
Dan Patrick played audio of Smith on Wednesday’s edition of his radio show, and he proceeded to offer his opinion on the situation. Patrick could tell that Smith was fired up talking about James as a father and the presumed strings he pulled or influence wielded to have his son on the Lakers. Later in the segment, he acknowledged that James did in fact utilize his power to make this resolution happen, something he added that parents do all the time. In response to Smith talking about how Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey embarrassed Bronny James against the Lakers, he mentioned how that happens frequently to other players as well.
“It’s not like LeBron sent his son to Afghanistan,” Patrick said. “His son is on the Lakers acting like he’s the 55th player drafted, he’s a bench player, he goes back and forth to the G League.”
Patrick predicts that Bronny James is not going to be in the league when his father retires and feels that he is not good enough to play. Yet he also stated that Bronny James seems to have been raised properly and that talking about LeBron James’ parenting seemed to be the proverbial trigger point in this situation.
“Bronny’s doing okay,” Patrick said. “Alright, going to get his ass kicked a bit, so what? Do I blame JJ Redick for putting him out there? Do I say to LeBron, ‘LeBron, I don’t want him out there on Tyrese Maxey’? I mean, there’s culpability here, there’s blame to go around, but Stephen A. showing up and LeBron is going to say something to you in person, that’s not weak. Weak would’ve been tweeting it out or having somebody from your management company, your agency reach out to Stephen A.”
Smith has frequently delineated his belief that James is the second-best player in league history behind Chicago Bulls superstar and six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan. Patrick hypothesized whether Smith would have advised Jordan to be a better father when his son, Marcus, was recently arrested in Florida and cited for driving under the influence, a charge for which he is reported as pleading not guilty. Paul Pabst, the executive producer of the Dan Patrick Show, voiced that he is okay with Smith criticizing James’ basketball decisions, one of which presumably included having his son on the Lakers roster.
“As long as it stays in that lane of, ‘We’re critiquing a sports move here or a sports decision,’ which I think he is,” Pabst said. “That word, ‘father,’ I bet you bothered LeBron a lot just like you said, but if he said, ‘LeBron made a mistake and shouldn’t be using his influence to change a Laker roster for an inferior player,’ a lot of people have said that – wouldn’t be the first.”
“And I agree with that,” Patrick replied. “LeBron was going to put an inferior product on the bench, maybe playing in games. Now he’s not going to be playing in important games, but somebody lost their spot because Bronny’s going to be on the bench. Bronny, and I got to see him in the limited time at USC, and he was nowhere near the best player on his own team. The G League, he’s had a couple of moments there. He’s just not ready for this.”
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