Every time you try to look back for beef within the NBA, it is one duo that features: Stephen A. Smith vs LeBron James. And what gives them attention is, Stephen A. has been a part of the Sports Journalism industry for over three decades, and has been around since the beginning of King’s career! And Smith’s opinions on him have been good, some bad, and some almost controversial. But this time it seems to get dragged a bit more than usual, and this time it is a direct face-off! But guess why?

To give a context, Smith’s varying opinions have invited people out of the NBA too, and internet personality Kai Cenat lost his cool this week as he verbally attacked Stephen A. Smith on live TV while defending LeBron James! If that wasn’t enough, LeBron James too surprised the NBA world by having a face-to-face conversation with the host a few hours ago. But are the two incidents related? Oh no, it wasn’t related to the Cenat incident at all.

As the recent game between the Lakers and the New York Knicks approached a break, LeBron James was seen having a conversation with Stephen A. Smith. The ESPN Sportscaster was in attendance and had occupied one of the courtside seats. While the music made it hard to hear what the NBA star was saying to Smith, it was apparent that it wasn’t good. The king was furious, and a deep set of anger was let out. Honestly, as it looked, Stephen A. had no choice but to look up at the big man. But what did he say?

Now, FadeAway Media has claimed that LeBron said “I don’t care bro, keep my son out of this s*** bro”. Courtside Buzz reported that the player said, “I’MMA TELL YOU ONE TIME, BRO. KEEP MY SON OUT OF THIS ****, BRO.” Either way, it’s apparent that LeBron is not happy about how Stephen A. Smith is covering his son, Bronny James. But how did it lead to this?

This incident comes a few weeks after Smith had stated “I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: stop this. Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad”. At the same time, he added, “I am rooting for Bronny James. It would be cruel to root against him. He’s a wonderful kid, I wish him nothing but the best. But he’s LeBron James’ son, and everybody knows what attention that brings.”

Smith’s comments would make an individual presume that the sportscaster speaks about Bronny because he only means well. However, that is not how LeBron sees it. The sports media star criticized LeBron during his two-decade-long NBA tenure, but it was finally the talk about Bronny that caused the NBA legend to burst his anger and in full public glare. The public confrontation was the news of the day, and it didn’t take long for the NBA community to investigate the reason behind it.

NBA fans share theories behind LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith’s argument: “Lip reader glasses on”

The decode that we discussed was by two prominent pages. But how did fans read? One social media user seemed to be right on the money. He wrote, “Keep my sons name outta this” if I had to put my lip reader glasses on”.

Given the fact that Smith’s indirect message to LeBron was given out recently only, it was easy to speculate that the argument would have been about it only. Furthermore, the theory was also supported by the fact that after Smith had asked LeBron to “stop this”, he revealed a few days later that “A couple of people texted me and pissed me — and they know who they are. People close to LeBron James talking to me about questioning him as a father”.

Another individual was pretty accurate in his prediction. He looked at the video and wrote “This is him approaching him about the Bronny comments & SAS took it too far talking about this man’s son”.

Even before he was drafted into the NBA, Bronny James was a favorite to discuss for several NBA enthusiasts and analysts. After all, during his time at USC, the young star averaged only 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. This raised doubt on how the player will fair in the NBA. Sure enough, in his 18 games with the Lakers, Bronny averaged only 1.4 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.4 assists. Whenever he could, LeBron James has made attempts to defend his son against the criticism. Now, he has done it again by arguing with a renowned sportscaster who recently talked about Bronny.

And then a fan wrote, “LeBron been quiet for years, but when it comes to his son, he’s not playing”. Stephen A. Smith has often brought up Bronny on his show, or during his news coverage on ESPN. Amidst the low stats, Smith made his belief clear that Bronny cannot handle being in the NBA. At one point, a person reaches their limit. Therefore, even if LeBron may not have said anything earlier, he has now.

The keyboard war didn’t stop there. Another social media user put out a different theory to it. “He said him he a bum analyst and he’s right”.

Well, Stephen A. Smith may not be loved by all. However, will a ‘bum analyst’ earn over $100 million over the next 5 years? That is what will happen, as Stephen A. Smith is set to sign an extension with ESPN. According to reports, the 5-year, $100 million deal will allow Smith to continue focusing his time on “First Take”. At the same time, however, Smith will also scale back his time on other shows on the network.

The contract was certainly on the NBA community’s mind. After all, one fan speculated that “Stephen A Smith told him he makes $100M now, he the king now”. Well, LeBron James does boast a net worth of $1.2 Billion and is playing under a 2-year, $101.4 million contract. Therefore, Smith is quite far from dethroning the ‘King’.

To be honest, Stephen A. Smith is an important part of the sports media. Therefore, he has to share his true thoughts on Bronny James from time to time. At the same time, being a father, LeBron James cannot handle any criticism given to his son. It’s a conundrum. Hopefully, LeBron and Smith can have a proper discussion about it and come up with a solution, instead of a courtside argument.