It’s been a week now since the explosive confrontation between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith courtside at a Los Angeles Lakers home game. It’s become clear what it was all about, as James has been holding back resentment about Smith’s comments on Bronny James‘ future as an NBA player and how his father has handled it.
Despite the days passing by, the incident continues to live rent free in media members’ minds. Making matters worse is that opinions are extremely divided on who was in the wrong. Ryan Clark came out to defend Smith by shedding some light on James’ hypocrisy. Others have slammed Smith for how he has handled the aftermath, as he claimed that James should have called him instead of doing it in person in front of the whole world.
Ryan Clark rips LeBron James for confronting Stephen A. Smith over Bronny controversy
Nick Wright disagrees with how Stephen A. Smith has handled the situation
One national media member who fully disagrees with Smith’s notion is Nick Wright. The Fox Sports talking head spoke about the incident recently. Although he prefaced that he has a good relationship with Smith, he thinks Smith acted double-faced with his response, as Smith has said in the past he would welcome players confronting him.
The actual stars are the people we’re talking about… But it’s their movie. We in the media also have to have the humility to at times just take an “L”. We can’t do what we do to these athletes and then act so wounded if somebody doe it to us.
There’s clearly no consensus among Smith’s fellow industry cohorts about whether how he has handled the situation was right or wrong. The debate will rage on, at least until there’s another dust-up.
