No other rookie has been criticized more than Bronny James. The LA Lakers rookie was the 55th pick of this season’s NBA draft and despite being a late second-round pick, James has faced the heat from fans and media alike. The 20-year-old guard has tried his best to ignore all the noise and focus on honing his skills. On Thursday, it was finally time for Bronny James to step up and show out. That’s exactly what the Lakers rookie did! With almost the entire starting lineup injured, James put on a show.

He dropped a career-high 17 points, 5 assists, and 3 rebounds in a 118-89 loss against the Milwaukee Bucks. James played 30 minutes and shot a massive 70 percent from the field. While LA lost the game, it was a solid night for the rookie, who attracted massive praise from several people. Among them was none other than ESPN journalist Stephen A. Smith. Yes, you heard it correctly! The same Smith who had a beef with Bronny’s father LeBron James recently. He seems to have taken a U-Turn on his assessment of the Lakers rookie.

In fact, Stephen A. Smith admitted his mistake on National Television. “I might have been wrong. Are you listening, LeBron James? Are you listening, James’ family? Are you listening, Rich Paul? Are you listening, all of you people? Because here’s my position. My position was all along, that Bronny James needed to be in the G League, that we put him in the G League, and let him be in the G League his first year. And then after that, let him come on, because I’ve always believed that this kid has the potential, once I watched him, to be in the NBA.” Said Smith on ‘First Take‘. Well, Smith doesn’t often admit his mistakes, on the contrary, once he makes up his mind on a certain matter he usually sticks with it.

But, he had to give credit where it was due. Bronny James has put in a lot of work on his game and is yielding results. Well, he’s still very far from being in the regular rotation but he’s making great progress. Meanwhile, Smith’s newest take on the rookie has caught fire on social media and has everyone giving out their opinions. One fan stated, “He got in line.” Suggesting that Smith has started to believe in Bronny James after the confrontation with LeBron. However, this is not all! There’s a lot people have to say about this take.

Fans call out Stephen A. Smith after he switched up his stance on Bronny James

Bronny James made the most of the chance he was given on Thursday night by HC JJ Redick. After his posting up a career-high 17 points, the Lakers shooting guard garnered a lot of support. While everyone’s support toward the 20-year-old was appreciated people called out Stephen A. Smith for backpedaling on his previous take on the rookie. One fan called out the journalist for the same. “Stephen A. said LeBron was a bad father for having his son on the Lakers lol.. stop tryna change the issue.” The user wrote on X.

Well, Smith did state earlier that Bronny made it into the league just because of his dad. After which, LeBron James confronted the journalist during a recent Lakers game and allegedly asked Smith to keep his son out of this. So, the fan’s argument might just be right as it seems Smith had totally changed his tunes in regards to Bronny James. Another fan called out Smith for switching up his take. “Stop this with Bronny” to “I always believed” is f**kin INSANITY“. The Fan stated.  This take from Smith comes in just after two months when he stated that Bronny James needs to be stopped and that he belongs to the G League.

So, it appears that he’s taken a whole 360-degree turn on his own comment from just two months back. While Smith’s mind has been changed by Bronny’s performance against Milwaukee it seems not everyone is impressed yet. “17 points with 30+ minutes with your whole team out getting points vs the bucks backups backups. All he showed is he needs to go back to the g league for about another 3 years.” One user suggested. Well, this might just be too harsh on James’ performance. That’s because with the backups players such as Giannis Antetokounpmo, Taurean Prince and Kyle Kuzma were all also on the court. 

Additionally, as few odd fans also resided with Stephen A. Smith. “I don’t get the problem honestly… SA never was disrespectful to Bronny… his argument or problem has always been simply to let the kid GROW into his game before DISPLAYING him to the league… that’s it.” One follower wrote. Well, that’s also a valid point as he did suggest that despite calling Bronny not worthy of playing in the NBA, he suggested that Bronny should suit up in the G League. However, it cannot be denied that he indeed was disrespectful toward the 20-year-old rookie at times. Well, whatever might be the reason it’s nice to see Stephen A. Smith acknowledge his mistake. About whether Bronny James can continue to perform, only time will tell.