Stephen A's Take: Really? Lebron joked, Stephen A wears tighty whities during his interview with Pat McAfee.

Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.

Support the show: http://www.youtube.com/@stephenasmith

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's just get right into it. We all know where
I need to start today, and it's with some sports talk, media, news,
and my good friend mister Lebron James. Lebron appeared on
the Pat McAfee show today and made a few headlines
with his thoughts on a number of topics, including yours. Truly,
for those of you who didn't see it, I'll play

(00:24):
it for you right here. This is Lebron James on
Pat McAfee talking about me, which leads obviously to you
and Steven A.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Hey, legit, that feels like a moment that had been
brewing for a long time. He's like on a Taylor
Swift tour run right now. Oh yeah, yeah, we're watching it.
I mean, we're awesome. Well you're seeing it as well,
you know. He literally it started off with I didn't
want to address it. I didn't I didn't want to
address it. I wasn't going to address it. But since
the video came out, I feel the need to address it,

(00:58):
to talk about it. Are you kidding me? There's one
person that couldn't wait to the video or to drop
so you can address it, is your ass, Like seriously,
it's and like another he completely like missed the whole point.
The whole point. Never am I never would I ever

(01:20):
not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players
about what they do on the court. That is your
job to criticize or to you know, be in a
position where Okay, if a guy's not performing, you know,
that is all that is all part of the game,
that's all part of the game. But when you take it
and you get personal with it, it's my job to

(01:44):
not only protect my damn household, but protect the players.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
And I think, and I think a lot of the media,
including him, and I know he's gonna he's gonna be
happy as hell. He's gonna be smiling from ear to
ear when he hears me talking about him. God, he's
gonna get home and grab some ice cream out of
the fucking freezer and sit in his chair. And it's
tighty Whities on the couside. I hope you. I hope

(02:09):
at some point you too, like relax, bro like relax.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Uh. Tighty Whitey's comment was funny because I don't wear
tighty whities. Let you figure out why that is. But
moving on from that particular subject, I don't happen to
consider anything that Lebron has said a laughing matter. So

(02:37):
y'all wanted me to be serious, I'll be serious. And
I know there some people out there that's going to
be like, I'm milking the story for all it's worth. Well,
I've been winning in television for quite some time. I
don't need an incident like this to talk about Lebron,
and I don't need an incident like this to get ratings.
Lebron gives us plenty of ammunition to talk about them,

(02:57):
both good and bad. So let's get that out the
way first. Let's also get out the way that major,
major props to Pat McAfee for getting that interview. There's
a lot of people that's been texting me, and he's
a teammate, he's on ESPN. Why would he do that.
Please y'all be quiet. Pat McAfee did nothing wrong. Pat
McAfee did his job. Pat McAfee has a show that

(03:18):
airs on ESPN. You have Lebron, an opportunity to get
Lebron James, you take him. I'll give a damn who
you are. This is one of the greatest players in
the history of basketball. You get him. If you have
an opportunity to get him. You get him. And I
didn't think that Pat McAfee disrespected me or did me
wrong in any way. He did his job and I
got no problems with it. My issue is with Lebron James,

(03:44):
and I just want to say for the record, Lebron
James is full of it, and in this particular instance,
as it pertains to his son, he is a liar.
And he went on national television today and he lied again.
You see when he approached on He approached me while
I was sitting courtside at that game against the New

(04:07):
York Knicks. When he rolled up on me, I didn't
know he was gonna roll up on me. I had
no idea. But when he said what he had to say,
I was in no position to give any kind of
retort without making a scene. It was during the third quarter,
it was fresh out of a time out. It was
him walking to the basketball court. It was on national television.

(04:30):
The cameras were rolling and had I done something? What
do y'all want me to do? You want me to act?
You want this to be a reincarnation of Chris Rock
and Will Smith. And let me stay for the record
that while we bring up that, let me assure you
it wouldn't have gone down like that. I would have
gotten my ass kick because had that man put his

(04:50):
hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him
immediately that I'm not gonna tolerate. But I knew he
wasn't going to do something like that. There was no
fear in my mind about it. It was shocked because,
as I have repeatedly stated, I was not talking about
his son. I was talking about him and whether it's

(05:14):
the video that you saw him a couple of days
later after that incident, when he was talking to Richard Jefferson,
my colleague at ESPN before an ABC game in Boston
when it got blown out that night by the Celtics,
or in the aftermath of it, including Pat McAfee's show
when he talked about me getting personal and taking it

(05:34):
beyond basketball. I'm getting to a point where I'm getting
very annoyed at people who cover the game of basketball,
who cover professional sports pundits out there, including him in
a circle, his family members and everybody else included. When
are y'all going to ask him or hold him accountable
for the truth I have not been talking about Bronnie

(05:59):
Jay Games, I have not, as Lebron James accused me
of doing, to my face, been shitting on his son.
I clapped back at d Wade and mellow to brothers
I love deally when they were talking about this, even
though ninety nine percent of the stuff they said was right,
it was not clapping back of his son, your second
round pick fifty fifth. Overall, there's been plenty of second

(06:21):
round picks that have to work their way up through
the ranks before getting to the pro level. Me pointing
that out about his son and talking about how his
son has been pushed to the forefront, thereby put in
a line of fire for folks in the media to
come at him, is not denigrating his son. It's simply

(06:43):
highlighting what we all knew, which is that he's not
ready yet. But based on what we've seen from Brownie recently,
there are indications that he will be, and as Lebron
James pointed out on the Pat McAfee show today, it's
probably sooner than because his growth and his maturation from
just a year ago has happened by leaps and bounds.

(07:05):
Nothing but respect and appreciation, wishing Bronni nothing but the
best this is not about BRONI this is about Lebron.
This is about Lebron. And when you sit up there
and you talk about I love talking about I don't
need something like this to happen to talk about Lebron.
He plays for the Lakers. He is Lebron James. I

(07:25):
don't need an incident like this to talk about Lebron James.
And do I use him for ratings? You're damn right,
like I use anything in the news for ratings, because
I'm a reporter and a personality and abundant and a commentator.
That's my career. Of Course I talk about him. Of
course I talk about anything relevant in the news. One minute,

(07:50):
it's Lebron, another minute it's the Cowboys. Y'all act like
that's all I talk about. For two hours a day,
ten hours a week live. All I talk about is
Lebron and the Cowboys. Are you sure? Because I can
pick a whole bunch of things I've gotten in trouble
for for opening my mouth about. But that's neither here
nor there, because listen, I get distracted from the real
point in hand. The real point in hand is this

(08:10):
Lebron James continues to lie he hoodwink y'all in the
thinking that he was upset about criticism about his son.
If your son is a professional basketball player and I
was talking about your son as a basketball player, since
you just went on Pat McAfee Show It and said

(08:31):
you would never knock anybody for talking about the game,
then what is it that I said? What I said
was as a father. Stop. I wasn't talking about you
as a father, as somebody that's home minded your business.
And I just call you out because your son is
in this position. That's not the father I've been talking about.

(08:51):
That's why I've been addressing Draymond Green, who's been an
avid supporter of Lebron on this matter. All I'm asking
for comprehension of the actual point. How do you mention
Brownie James without bringing up how you got drafted by
the Lakers, How you got drafted period? How do you

(09:14):
bring that up without bringing up Lebron James saying he
was better than some NBA players before he got to
the NBA. How do you bring that up without bringing
up that Lebron James said, quote, if you want me
draft my son. At this point, it ain't about the
money I'll play for free. That was Lebron, How is it?

(09:36):
I mean, I understand cynics. I understand this pension to
just hate the player and not the game. I understand
how it's tempting to just come at me because you
might dislike me or might disagree with me, if you're
Joe Public or Susie Public out there. I get it.
But don't the truth matter? Because there's one person in

(10:00):
this ordeal that's telling the truth, and it's me. I
don't lie to y'all. His ass lies a lot, and
there's a lot of shady stuff that he does. And
one of the things is this passive aggressiveness and the

(10:21):
two faces in this and smiling your face and dig
you behind the back. I happen to know that about him,
which is why I don't like him and he don't
like me. But it doesn't stop me from being fair
and calling it like I see it. We ain't exchanging

(10:43):
Christmas gifts, we ain't having Thanksgiving dinner together. What you
bring your son up into there for which you bring
your family up in there. Before you gonna go on
Pat McAfee show talk about you gonna protect your house
talking about your son ain't at the house. He's at
Crypto dot Com arena. We ain't covering him in Brentwood.
We covering him in downtown LA, at the Crypto dot
Com arena where you put them now, I happen to

(11:09):
believe that he's going to be ready. I think Bronni's
gonna be an NBA player. I believe in the kid personally.
But Lebron did this now to get to he and
I could y'all please go back to the video of

(11:29):
him getting in my face. If you watch ladies and
gentlemen and you see it for yourself, notice how Lebron
is in my face, and right when he finishes, he
looks past me, right at the camera that was filming it.

(11:50):
Watch them, I didn't even pick that up. First go round.
You got Markeith Morris to my right, his left. You
got Scott Brooks, assistant coach behind him. He finishes talking
and looks right up to the camera. Everybody and their
mother knew I was gonna be there, because when you

(12:10):
sit courtside, the Lakers have an idea of who's gonna
show up. He knew I was coming and pick the
third quarter in the middle of the game to say
what he has to say to make sure the camera
is rolling, and to then look at the camera after

(12:36):
immediately saying what he said to me, with me having
no chance to respond. We could have went to the
back after the game. Lebron James could have came right
over the press row and said, Yo, don't leave. I
want to see you after the game. We gotta have
a conversation. And any of these players or any professional

(13:04):
athlete or anybody associated with them, says another syllable. Think
about this. Ninety nine percent of y'all would have done that.
Y'all have said Stephen, they don't leave, I ain't see
you bro after the game. Lebron didn't want that because
Lebron would have had to deal with my response, and

(13:27):
my response would have been, you did this, This ain't me.
Don't put this on me. Why the hell are you
putting your son in this position? Knowing we got to
cover him. If we don't cover him, we ain't doing
our job. Why would you do that? That's what I
would have said to him, But he didn't want a response.

(13:53):
He didn't want that because Lebron wanted to give smoke.
He didn't want to take any what am I talking about.
I have even more nuggets of info to give y'all
on that point. Brother don't like smoke. He just likes

(14:16):
to give it. Typical bully mentality. It ain't working with me.