"Keep my son out of this!" – LeBron confronts Stephen A. courtside

Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)

On Thursday, March 6 between the third and fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers' 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks, NBA superstar LeBron James confronted ESPN sports journalist Stephen A. Smith “unexpectedly" courtside regarding Smith's comments about his son, recently drafted Bronny James, performance and reasoning as to why he was on an NBA roster.

The Lakers selected Bronny at No. 55 in the 2024 NBA Draft. On opening day this season, the two members of the James family became the first father-son duo to share an NBA court together.

The confrontation shook the NBA world considering Smith's personality on television and being best known for his controversial, passionate, and entertaining debates on ESPN's “First Take" show. Notably, James has been known to avoid putting himself into controversial situations due to being the face of the NBA for over a decade. Still, he surprised many when footage went viral that appeared to show James walking towards Smith and voicing his concerns publicly.

In January 2025, Smith expressed how he believes Bronny landed himself a spot on the Lakers roster solely “because of his dad." This statement undermined the talents of Bronny and expressed on national television how Smith believes his talents never got them into the league, rather, the last name Bronny carries gave him a head-start over other athletes who may have deserved the roster spot more, talent-wise, of course.

In the viral video, a frustrated James appears to confront Smith and allegedly states, “Keep my son out of this [expletive], bro." Smith appears to hear James out and stands in front of James as he looks down at him. After the confrontation, Smith broke down the interaction on his "First Take" show the following morning, acknowledging how LeBron expressed his concerns “as a father" but stood on his critiques of Bronny's performance as a player. Smith highlighted how he “Can't repeat the words [James said], because they ain't suited for FCC airwaves. That's what he was doing."

Despite displaying an understanding and considering the way James felt about his comments as a father, Smith expressed his own concerns and disagreed with how James went about confronting him publicly in an NBA game setting. Smith clarified how James' agent, Rich Paul, had his contact information, and he would've been able to fly out or set up a meeting time for them to hear each other out.

On Friday on his own “Stephen A. Smith Show" podcast, Smith gave out more details on the exchange. Smith cleared up a variety of rumors but focused on the rumor that had been spreading online claiming LeBron insulted him by calling him a name, which he denied James never did. Smith then continued to claim that James said “Stop effing with my son. That's my effing son. Stop effing with my son. No, straight up, man to man. Real talk. Stop effing with my son."

On the other hand, James appeared to take a “you criticize my son publicly, I will confront you publicly" stance on the situation. While addressing the interaction, Smith claimed James and him “don't necessarily vibe," and it's "been that way for years".

Since being drafted into the league, Smith has consistently spoken about Bronny's role on the Lakers as a player, emphasizing how the rookie should spend this season in the NBA G League to develop his skills rather than be given minutes on the floor at such a young time in his career.

As of March 10, 2025, Bronny averages 1.4 points per game, 20 percent from the 3-point line, and 4.2 minutes on the court.

While mentioning his statistics and performance on the court as proof of his argument, Smith has publicly supported Bronny and has “wished him the best" because he's a "wonderful kid". Despite his attempt to back-track his statements about Bronny, Warriors power-forward Draymond Green has reportedly “broke contact" with Smith as a result of the confrontation. Smith addressed the broken contact on his podcast, claiming Green as a “brother."

From a media perspective, Smith was only doing his duty as a sports journalist and never attacked Bronny from a personal standpoint and only on his performance as a basketball player. Moreover, Smith has publicly rooted for Bronny to find his rhythm in the league but has disagreed with how the Lakers have gone about developing Bronny and the amount of playing time he has been given despite earning it solely off performance.

As a father, James has every right to defend his son and chose to address Smith publicly because it was only right for Smith to be confronted face-to-face after criticizing his son on a platform as big as ESPN on national television, which in the eyes of a father comes with public humiliation and cyberbullying attacks on his son.

Leaked footage has since been circulating showing James speaking to former teammate Richard Jefferson, who played alongside James during the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers championship run, claiming what made him the most upset regarding Smith's comments. In the leaked audio, James pleads that Smith said, “Once he talks about, ‘I'm pleading to you as a father.' I can't."

James has not made any public statements regarding the leaked hot mic of his conversation with Smith and is currently overcoming a groin injury.