Following an unexpected courtside meeting at Crypto.com Arena a few weeks ago, the disagreement between Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James and ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith seemed to escalate this week. James appeared for a sit-down interview on The Pat McAfee Show, which airs on ESPN directly after First Take, the program for which Smith serves as a featured commentator and executive producer. During this discussion, James explained his belief that Smith missed the point and would be thrilled that he was talking about him again. Jemele Hill, a former ESPN personality and SportsCenter host, believed that placing James on this platform was intentional and allowed him to convey this message over the same airwaves.
“Pat McAfee, since coming to ESPN, he’s one of the big dogs in the kennel,” Hill said. “He’s become a face of ESPN, very popular, very big platform, and so I think LeBron purposely went on someone who would, on some degree, be a professional competitor. Yes, they’re both on the same team, but you got two big dogs between him and Stephen A. Smith.”
Hill outlined that James tranced Smith during the interview, conveying that the ESPN commentator was on a type of tour similar to Taylor Swift talking about what took place between them. The criticism in this situation was in Smith talking about James as a father, and he made his displeasure known through the courtside altercation and subsequent commentary. Although Hill does not watch First Take on most days, she made sure to tune in on Thursday morning to watch Smith respond, during which he delivered a protracted diatribe disseminating his thoughts on the occurrence.
“Look, from a purely broadcast perspective, I have to give Stephen A. his props because this is hard to do,” Hill said. “That man talked barely breathing with very few pauses for 20 straight minutes about responding to every single thing that LeBron said and also adding his own sauce and own opinion, observations, like adding more fuel to the fire.”
Hill explained that it seems the source of what is taking place comes from the fact that Smith does not acknowledge James as the greatest player in basketball history, instead placing that distinction on former Chicago Bulls guard and six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan. During his monologue on the Thursday edition of the show, he explained his rationale behind selecting Jordan and highlighting how he feels James can be passive aggressive. In viewing this from a media perspective though, Hill can see where the benefits lie in the content domain.
“I felt like LeBron lost the plot in the sense that he gave ESPN and Stephen A. Smith exactly what they wanted,” Hill said. “This is not about what was said, the back and forth. This is about leverage, this is about strategy and all of those things.”
With Smith recently agreeing to a five-year contract reportedly worth at least $100 million to remain at ESPN, Hill articulated that James is essentially validating that the company made the right decision with this deal. On top of that, this is signaling the reach and relevance of Smith in the current media environment, and consumers are recognizing that what he says matters surrounding the world of sports. Hill surmised that James was petty about the situation and trying to enact a chess move where he could talk about Smith and provide his viewpoints on what transpired.
“You feel like, ‘Man, this dude that had a lot to say, I didn’t like what he had to say about Bronnie, let me fire back by going on another ESPN show on his network, essentially coming inside enemy lines and firing the missile from inside the house,’” Hill said of James. “The call was coming inside the house – that’s what he was thinking, and I understand that strategy, and I understand being so bothered that you would do that. But see now, again, now you have given Stephen A. and ESPN hella headlines – like they can milk this for God knows how long, constantly in the news cycle.”
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