Stephen A. Played Blame Game With LeBron James, and Lakers Star’s Inner Circle is Fuming

Each year as the All-Star Weekend draws to a close, NBA media gets all up in its feeling about how bad it was. This year’s edition in Indianapolis wasn’t any different. After a historic 200-point performance from the East, fans and pundits alike threw shade at superstars for their complete lack of defensive effort in these games.

Another running joke across the league is the ‘Slam Dunk’ contest. Many pronounced the event dead, but it had a resurgence last year due to the surprise performance of Mac McClung, who wowed audiences with flair. McClung won this year as well, yet the whole event lacked the showmanship it had last year, despite Stars like Jaylen Brown signing on to compete.

Stephen A Smith, alongside Shannon Sharpe, completely ripped the All-Star game apart, emphasizing the NBA needs to do away with it completely. Smith went as far as LeBron James, blaming him for the decline of the dunk contest, saying: “I blame your (Shannon Sharpe) boy LeBron James.” However, this rubbed Draymond the wrong way and he addressed it in the recent episode of the ‘Draymond Green Show’.

Green defends LeBron James against Stephen A. Smith’s ‘blame’

The former Defensive Player of the Year cleared the air from the jump. “I saw Stephen A. Smith say LeBron James killed the dunk contest single-handedly. As you all know, we love Stephen A. Smith. It’s those statements that just do not sit well with me,” said Green.

Moreover, Green added, “It’s just so far-fetched, like, ‘Hey man, this one guy who did not participate in the dunk contest single-handedly killed the dunk contest,’ and that just can’t be factual. Because the reality is when LeBron James would have been in the dunk contest, which was like 20 years ago.”

Green concluded by arguing, “It’s not quite accurate because that means we don’t get Zach LaVine’s Dunk Contest performances. If I’m not mistaken, he won three dunk contests, but I’m for sure, um, we don’t get Dwight Howard in a Dunk Contest. We don’t get Nate Robinson winning Dunk Contests since LeBron James.”

The four-time NBA Champion also mentioned Aaron Gordon who according to him was “the best Dunk contest performer we’ve ever seen” without a trophy to show for it. However, do you think Stephen A. was right is LBJ responsible?

Read More: “Celebrity Game Was More Competitive Than the Actual Game”: Stephen A. Smith Urges the NBA to Do Away With All-Star Weekend