Stephen A. Smith sparked a storm earlier this year with comments about Bronnie James, with LeBron James facing him.
Bronnie James was thrown into the rotation as Anthony Davis suffered an early injury following the shocking loss to the Philadelphia 76ers a few weeks ago.
This led to critical comments as it didn’t work. To protect the rookie from criticism, Stephen A. Smith piled it up, appealing for LeBron James to pull him away from the shooting line, and accusing him of a now infamous “father.”
This led LeBron to face Stephen A. Smith when the Lakers defeated the Knicks and brought the situation to their heads. But that’s not done.
They lost inclusively when the much-rest La Lakers team took on the Milwaukee Bucks. But without Bronnie James, it could have been much worse.
Bronnie James scored a career-high 17 points, breaking double digits for the first time, showing what he can do.
Coach JJ Redick praised Bronnie James after the game, and praised him for dealing with the outside pressure he had to put up with in his rookie year.
And of course, Stephen A. Smith had something to say. Speaking on his own YouTube channel, he admitted that elements of his thought process regarding Bronnie James were wrong.
He said: “I might have been wrong. I thought he should have been in the G League this year.
“I still say he has a chance, but I thought he might have been in the G League this year, but if my brother looks like this, I said it gave me a place where the deadline came and Bronnie James showed some promises.
“He was composed there, completely f-w-down, had some great ball-handling skills, he pulled up the jump shot, hit three pointers, got to the basket and hit the floater.”
After 20 years of circling each other, it is unlikely that Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James will form a friendship.
ESPN analysts say this won’t stop him from praising Bronnie James. “As most people know, we don’t like each other or talk to each other in our lives.
There was a point he wanted to do, and from his point of view there was a reminder that LeBron James was wrong to call him out in the first place, and he claimed that he was always in favor of Bronnie James to achieve in the NBA in the end, and he opposed this method.
He said: “But I want to remind him that the same guy his dad approached courtside was the same guy who said, ‘I thought he had this possibility.’ I didn’t think it was this season.
“Look, I wasn’t the mindset that Bronnie James never made the NBA and never went back and watched the clips. He said he got the chance. He just needs the right guidance.