Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley weighed in on the feud between ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James during a radio appearance on Friday.
Smith and James traded barbs in separate media appearances throughout the week. It came after James confronted Smith during a Lakers game over comments the hot-take aficionado made about his son, Bronny. Smith maintained that nothing personal had been said. Smith upped the ante by mentioning the personal issues he could have said about LeBron James but didn’t.
Barkley analyzed the war of words during an appearance on “The Dan Patrick Show.” He said both Smith and James had pretty bad weeks.
“They both had an awful week,” he said. “LeBron, he’s too big to be that type of bully. To bully Stephen A. and to bully Brian Windhorst. . . . Brian Windhorst, he’s a sweet person, man. He’s just trying to do his thing. And I’ve always liked LeBron, but him being a bully, it turned me off.
“But I will say this: Stephen A., the way he reacted was so lame and weak. Stephen A.’s a good dude, man. LeBron, I blame him for starting the bullying, going on Pat’s show just bullying people, because you know LeBron, he’s a control freak. He knows everything he’s doing. He knew when he walked up to Stepen A., he knew what he was doing. But the way Stephen A. reacted, going on (Gilbert Arenas’) podcast, talking tough, come on, man, you’re better than that.
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“There’s are only losers in this scenario. You got the biggest star in the game, you probably got the biggest star on television and they both look bad. And what bothers me the most is they’re both good dudes. I don’t mind people who are an a—hole looking bad. I don’t mind that at all because they deserve it. But Stephen A. is a good dude and LeBron is a good dude. But they both look really bad this week LeBron started it. Stephen A., I’m not sure what he was trying to do . . . he just made it worse and worse and worse.”
It’s unclear whether the relationship will ever be repaired. Smith has said that James is only mad at him because of his opinion that the Lakers star will never surpass Michael Jordan as the greatest basketball player of all time.
Smith had to retract one remark he made about James attending Kobe Bryant’s memorial. Smith said James wasn’t there when he was at the February 2020 event. James was just out of the spotlight.
“My apologies and clarification. I misspoke in Hour#1 of @FirstTake today when I intimated that LeBron did not attend Kobe Bryant’s memorial. I corrected myself in Hour#2 when I acknowledged he was indeed in attendance,” he wrote on X.
“My mistake. Should not have even broached that subject. It was not my main point. I retract NOTHING else that I said. Have a nice day!”
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