The unrelenting vitriol on social media finally took its toll. That too on LeBron James. Yes, the King declared self-exile from social media. After Kevin Durant‘s manager Rich Kleiman’s post torched the national media’s negative agenda, LeBron waved the white flag and announced his decision to take time off from social media.

“And with that said I’ll holla at y’all! Getting off social media for the time being. Y’all take care ✌🏾👑”, LeBron James tweeted on Wednesday. While the Lakers star decided to pause his social media activities, the First Take crew opened a segment on the show addressing the situation.

Stephen A. Smith used his vocal nature to sound off the internet’s “whole bunch of trolls, whole bunch of wannabe, whole bunch of a**holes”, but soon found himself on the receiving end. “The issue is not LeBron. The issue is the tweet that LeBron was reacting to Mhmm. Courtesy of Rich Kliman, Kevin Durant’s manager and business partner. He wasn’t wrong with some of the things that he was saying”, Stephen A. further explained.

Following his passionate rant about LeBron’s early retirement from social media, SAS found himself in the cross-hair of the angry mob of YouTube’s comment section.

SAS held accountable by fans after LeBron James called time-out on his social media life

“The panel looking at Stephen A like he’s lost his mind. The negative is how he eats”, a fan remarked under the video on YT. Stephen A has been known for his hot takes over the years calling out players for underperforming. His criticism of Zion Williamson spectacularly backfired last season when the franchise’s X handle clapped back by mocking the analyst’s playing career.

But amid this LeBron James situation, his biggest hater, Skip Bayless, also found himself catching strays. “Sas and Skip are the FATHERS of current SPORTS NEGATIVITY. Now he gets upset when people calling him and ESPN and the likes out for it”, a viewer commented. Skip and SAS both have a well documented history of criticizing LeBron due to their favoritism of Michael Jordan in the GOAT debate. During the last season, Skip launched a scathing attack on LBJ, calling out his “closer gene”. “He is still a top five scorer of the basketball,” Bayless said during an episode of the Undisputed. “But when it comes to crunch time, closing time, he does not have the closer gene in him… They’re airballs, they’re clangers, they’re LeBricks, they’re not even close.”

Someone stated, “I cannot even finish listening to Stephen A bruh. He’s EXACTLY what’s wrong with sports media.” Continuing the bash, they wrote, “It’s not just y’all saying a player should go to the rim. It’s calling him soft for not doing it, attacking peoples character like they won’t beat tf out of most of these dudes.” They further mentioned that Smith said nothing instead it was Brian Windhorst who gave the actual answer. “ESPN won’t look themselves in the mirror,” they added. Apart from LeBron, Smith had personal beef with multiple NBA stars, with the recent one being with Jaylen Brown. SAS questioned the Celtics guard’s marketability by quoting a source. That sparked an online battle after Brown called out SAS, demanding the name of his source. While the two have now seemingly buried the hatchet, it was one of the many examples of the analyst’s comments getting under the skins of the players.

Another comment highlighted how Windy supposedly endured Stephen A. Smith preaching over the LeBron James hating saga. “Windy clenching his fist and grinding his teeth while SAS talks that bs”, the comment read. Windhorst recently made a comment on Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s podcast about how the NBA media is not in a “great space” at the moment. “Everything is too short right now. People are too focused on tweets, too focused on guys getting crossed-over, guys getting dunked on, guys getting embarrassed, social media posts. Not as much on storytelling, learning about players and learning their backgrounds, what I call chronicling the season,” Windhorst said on the Thanalysis Show.

It is up to the fans to decide if the current NBA media space is creating hate-driven narratives rather than celebrating the sport. But that will not change the way the social media work with its snarky remarks and trolls. When will LeBron James return from his break? Nobody knows. Will we miss him? You bet we will. After all, LeBron is more than just a player. He’s a culture that NBA fans live in everyday.