On Wednesday morning, LeBron James finally addressed the incident. Yup, the same incident where he had some words for Stephen A. Smith after the Lakers-Knicks match. He chose The Pat McAfee Show as the platform to break his silence, giving fans the reaction they had been waiting for. He let SAS have it, and Wednesday evening Stephen A. had a reply.

Smith took things to another level, tossing out a wild hypothetical. He insisted that if LeBron had so much as touched him during their sideline exchange in L.A., he wouldn’t have just stood there. “I would’ve swung on him,” he declared, almost as if he was hyping up a pay-per-view boxing match.

The 21x All-Star must’ve been busy preparing for the match against the Pacers, by the way, for which he hit a buzzer beater to snap the Indiana side’s 5-game winning streak. But after the match, he let ESPN’s own have it. Because LeBron is professional like that.

The 4x MVP didn’t need words to roast Stephen A. Smith—he let Instagram do the talking. His latest post was pure comedy, featuring two clips. The first showed Smith awkwardly throwing punches with a trainer, looking anything but fight-ready. The second? A classic Whomp Whomp meme, the ultimate way to clown someone. And if that wasn’t enough, LeBron packed the caption with crying-laughing emojis before dropping the final blow: “WHOMP WHOMP WHOMPPPPPPPP.”. 

Clearly, Smith’s workout video had come back to haunt him. The Lakers superstar’s response dragged him right back into one of his most embarrassing sports moments. The internet never forgets. And neither do MMA fans, apparently.

Back in 2020, after UFC 246, Smith found himself in hot water after his blunt post-fight breakdown. Following Conor McGregor’s lightning-fast TKO of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Smith didn’t hold back. “I’m quite disgusted,” he said, clearly unimpressed. “I expected more than 40 seconds. I figured McGregor would handle business, but Cerrone didn’t even show up.”

MMA fans and fighters weren’t about to let that slide. Cerrone wasn’t just any fighter—he held records for the most UFC wins, finishes, and post-fight bonuses. Yet, Smith, who had never taken a punch in a cage, dismissed his performance like it was nothing. The backlash was swift. And then came the real nightmare—a clip of Smith hitting pads surfaced, and X had a field day. His stiff, awkward punches became an instant meme, and suddenly, his credibility as a fight analyst was shredded.

Just when Stephen A. Smith thought the internet had moved on, former UFC fighter Din Thomas made sure to keep the embarrassment alive.

A few days after Smith’s awkward padwork video went viral, Din Thomas, an MMA coach and stand-up comic, took matters into his own hands, reported MMA Junkie. Teaming up with former Bellator and Strikeforce fighter Muhammed Lawal, Thomas delivered a hilarious parody of Smith’s stiff, robotic strikes. Swinging wildly and exaggerating every move, he mimicked Smith’s lackluster technique to perfection, leaving MMA Twitter (now X) in stitches.

For Smith, this was just another reminder that his words—and now, his punches—don’t go unnoticed. Fast forward to now, and LeBron just pulled that skeleton out of the closet. And just like last time, SAS is being embarrassed again, with people siding with ‘The King’. Rightfully so, because Smith was not moving on and talking about the incident wherever he could see a camera. And now LeBron had enough.

What an eventful day for LeBron. He saved the Lakers first and then clapped back at SAS.

LeBron James saves the day for the Lakers

The Purple & Gold was on the verge of a fourth-straight loss—until LeBron James stepped up in the final moments. The Lakers had multiple chances to put the Pacers away, but Indiana’s up-tempo offense kept clawing back. Just when it seemed like L.A. might let another one slip, LeBron happened.

With just seconds remaining, the Indiana Pacers clung to a 119-118 lead as Luka Doncic put up a floater in the lane. The shot missed, bouncing off the rim, but James was in the perfect spot. Timing his jump perfectly, he tipped it in just before the buzzer. The review confirmed that 0.1 seconds remained when his fingers left the ball.

It was a strange night for James, who went three quarters without a field goal for just the second time in his career. Through 36 minutes, he had only three points, all from the free-throw line. The last time he scored fewer than 10 points in a regular-season game? January 5, 2007—1,283 games ago. In the playoffs, it’s happened twice since, with the most recent coming in 2014.

Despite the slow start, James turned it around late, finishing with 13 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists in 38 minutes. The Lakers, who had dropped seven of their last 10, desperately needed this win to stay competitive for the No. 2 seed alongside the Rockets and the Nuggets. A loss would’ve been brutal, but James made sure that didn’t happen.