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NBA pundit Stephen A Smith continues to add more drama to his rivalry with Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James. The two had a hostile moment at a game last season when James confronted Smith over comments about his son Bronny James. Smith was asked about this again on Carmelo Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn Podcast. The interview revealed that Smith has no intention of making peace with James and implied that LeBron did things behind the scenes to harm his career: “I’m not going to go into detail about the (things) this man has tried to do to me. People don’t understand. You do not understand the lengths this man can go to. I believe he’s one way publicly and he’s another way privately. The things that he’s tried to do. If it were up to him, I wouldn’t be where I am today.” Smith has made some critical comments about James in the past, but nothing has come close to this level of an accusation. LeBron is indeed one of the most powerful people in all sports, and Smith is claiming that James tried to use that to harm his career and limit his success. Was Stephen A’s Job At Stake? Carmelo Anthony’s co-host Kazeem followed Stephen A Smith’s quote by asking him directly if LeBron James ever tried to get him kicked off the air from covering the NBA on ESPN. Smith made sure not to say yes to that, but he implied that you could read between the lines to figure that out. “I’m not going there,” Smith said. “Figure it out. Because I’m not going to find myself in a position where it can get uglier. I’m not going to do it, but I’m telling you. It’s some low, low s**t.” Another claim from Smith during this interview is that James confronted the analyst more for himself than for his son. Stephen A stated that he felt bad and gave LeBron a pass since it was about his son. However, Smith felt upset when James revealed he was upset about Stephen A’s commentary on him as a father more than what he said about Bronny’s play. Stephen A Doesn’t Want Peace The biggest question about the current beef between LeBron James and Stephen A Smith is if they can make peace and become friendly again. Smith shut that down when asked about mending fences. The disdain Stephen A holds for LeBron’s behavior behind the scenes is why he believes he’ll never be cordial with James again. Smith did say he doesn’t extend his beef to covering the games objectively and will never ask mutual friends to pick a side. Carmelo is a closer friend to LeBron, but he has a good enough relationship with Stephen A to remain friendly with him. Anthony deserves credit for conducting an unbiased interview about two people he has ties to. The general behavior of Smith sees him going extra harsh with his criticism of players becoming personal, but he felt James was the one to make this personal more than him. LeBron was thrown accusations of trying to harm Smith’s career and the hostility continues to worsen.
