Nervous After LeBron James’ Interruption, Stephen A. Smith Succumbs to ESPN Colleague’s Pressure on Live TV

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently facing off against the Denver Nuggets. While there have been more pivotal games during the ongoing season, this particular one will certainly go down in history for being the game during which LeBron James became the first ever NBA player to cross the 40,000 points threshold. The faceoff isn’t over, and yet NBA fans and enthusiasts have started to consider the Lakers star’s feat as the highlight of the day. ESPN anchor and sportscaster Stephen A. Smith, however, is not among them in that circle.

While the world was focused on LeBron James, Stephen A. Smith chose to comment on the player’s 28-year-old teammate D’Angelo Russell. He applauded the latter for maintaining his average of 22 points in 6 games after being recently reinstated to the main lineup. By scoring 15 points during his first 21 minutes and making use of an efficient level of “Ball handling skills” and “Shot making abilities”, Russell seems to have earned Smith’s respect. As the sportscaster continued to place the Lakers point guard in the spotlight, it became allegedly obvious that he was avoiding broaching the subject of LeBron James. Smith’s co-host and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins highlighted the same.

“But you just ignored the first quarter,” said Perkins. Even though Smith succumbed to the pressure from his co-host and proceeded to say that he was saving that particular topic of conversation for later, the other commentators seem to have jokingly accepted the response.

The rumor that Smith was purposely trying to avoid talking about LeBron became more apparent when the four-time NBA champion approached him, Perkins, and the other commentators while they were on the air. While the three of them visibly showed excitement at being in the presence of the “man of the hour”, Smith could be seen just putting on a smile for a short period and shaking LeBron’s hand as he passed by.

If there was a particular reason for the nervousness from Smith’s side, then it was not something that was disclosed during that particular moment. While some might wonder if there has been a history of any form of tension between the two players, it is not a question that LeBron James’ fans want to ask since they already know the answer.

Stephen A. Smith blamed LeBron James for diverting the unwanted attention towards Bronny James

It’s no secret that LeBron James’ 19-year-old son Bronny has aspirations to join the NBA. While the young athlete is still biding his time by carving out a basketball career at USC, fans continue to debate whether he has it in him to make it to the draft. After a couple of Mock drafts missing Bronny’s name started to make the rounds of the internet, LeBron defended his son by stating that it would be his work that would make him a worthy candidate. Stephen A. Smith put out a statement in the aftermath of this incident criticizing LeBron for diverting all sorts of unwanted attention toward his son.

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“This is all his fault—all of it,” Smith said during an episode of ‘First Take’. “When we get to Bronny James, that kid has done nothing but work hard and try to get on this game and all of this other stuff. Any attention that he’s warranted has been because of his daddy.”

Smith’s comments may have been in Bronny’s defense, but they didn’t bode well with LeBron’s fans since they came at the expense of attacking the NBA legend. Given that the ESPN anchor’s remarks were quite recent, it makes sense for him to avoid meeting the eye or even talking about the 40,000 points feat achieved.