Speaker 1: What's up, everybody? Stephen A Smith here.
Speaker 2: Recently we made news because the great Bill O'Reilly announced
Speaker 2: a tour that's coming nearest to you in the very
Speaker 2: very near future. Get your tickets now for this. It's
Speaker 2: called Three Americans Live, March thirtieth at Live Nation's Flag
Speaker 2: Star at the Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. Don't
Speaker 2: miss the very first show as myself, Chris Crolomo, and yes,
Speaker 2: that man Bill O'Reilly take our different ideas, our different backgrounds,
Speaker 2: our different beliefs across the country to demonstrate that respectful,
Speaker 2: meaningful and even fun conversation.
Speaker 1: Those are the things that make America as great as
Speaker 1: it should be.
Speaker 2: The show will be spirited, unscripted, and all three of
Speaker 2: us will let it fly as we discussed the topics
Speaker 2: everyone is thinking about these days. There'll also be questions
Speaker 2: from the audience We're not running. Tickets are officially on
Speaker 2: sale now with pre sale code USA at three Americanslive
Speaker 2: dot com. VIP packages are available with the opportunity to
Speaker 2: meet and take photos with myself and both those fellas
Speaker 2: that Three Americans Live March thirtieth at the Westbury Music
Speaker 2: Fair on Long Island. Additional dates in cities to be announced.
Speaker 2: Don't miss it. Trust me, you'll get a kick out
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 1: Did y'all see him? Y'all saw Lebron James right.
Speaker 2: Clearly he wanted to be seen showing up on the
Speaker 2: Pat McAfee show today talking a little bit of smack
Speaker 2: by the way about yours truly Okay, he had his
Speaker 2: say my turn, Steven Asmith show in the house, let's.
Speaker 1: Rub what's up? Everybody?
Speaker 2: Welcome to the latest edition of The Stephen Aatesmith Show,
Speaker 2: coming at you over the digital airways of YouTube and
Speaker 2: of course, iHeartRadio has always liked to take a moment
Speaker 2: to thank my subscribers and followers over the last twenty
Speaker 2: three months or so millions of downloads courtesy of iHeartRadio,
Speaker 2: not to mention one one point one five million subscribers
Speaker 2: we've accumulated over that same period of time as well.
Speaker 2: Can't thank y'all for the love and support enough. I
Speaker 2: truly appreciate it. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't
Speaker 2: for your love to and support. Please don't think that
Speaker 2: I ever forget that. I always know that. To continue
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Speaker 2: you too shall be the latest member of the Steven
Speaker 2: Nini Smith Show family. And as always, I like to
Speaker 2: encourage people to get a copy of my New York
Speaker 2: Times bestselling book, Straight Shooter, a Memoir of Second Chances
Speaker 2: and First Takes, now in paperback. Just go to Straight
Speaker 2: Shooter book dot com to get yourself a copy. Once again,
Speaker 2: that Straight Shooter book dot Com to get yourself a copy.
Speaker 2: Let's just get right into it. We all know where
Speaker 2: I need to start today, and it's with some sports talk,
Speaker 2: media news and my good friend mister Lebron James. Lebron
Speaker 2: appeared on the Pat McAfee Show today and made a
Speaker 2: few headlines with his thoughts on a number of topics,
Speaker 2: including yours. Truly, for those of you who didn't see it,
Speaker 2: I'll play it for you right here. This is Lebron
Speaker 2: James on Pat McAfee talking about me.
Speaker 3: Which leads obviously to you and Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Hey, legit, that feels like a moment that had been
Speaker 2: brewing for a long time.
Speaker 3: He's like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, we're watching it.
Speaker 3: I mean, we're all you're seeing it as well.
Speaker 4: You know, he literally it started off with I didn't
Speaker 4: want to address it. I didn't I didn't want to
Speaker 4: address it. I wasn't going to address it. But since
Speaker 4: the video came out, I feel the need to address.
Speaker 1: It, to talk about it.
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 4: If there's one person that couldn't wait to the video
Speaker 4: to drop so you can address it, is your ass.
Speaker 3: Like seriously, it's and like.
Speaker 4: Another he completely like I missed the whole point, the
Speaker 4: whole point.
Speaker 3: Never in my never would I ever.
Speaker 4: Not a allow people to talk about the sport, criticize
Speaker 4: players about what they do on the court. That is
Speaker 4: your job to criticize or to you know, be in
Speaker 4: a position where okay, if a guy's not performing, you know,
Speaker 4: that is.
Speaker 3: All that is all part of the game, that's all
Speaker 3: part of the game.
Speaker 4: But when you take it and you get personal with it,
Speaker 4: it's my job to not only protect my damn household,
Speaker 4: but protect the players.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: And I think, and I think a lot of the media,
Speaker 4: including him, and I know he's gonna he's gonna be
Speaker 4: happy as hell. He's gonna be smiling from ear to
Speaker 4: ear when he hears me talking about him. Oh my god,
Speaker 4: he's gonna get home and grab some ice cream out
Speaker 4: of the fucking freezer and sit.
Speaker 3: In his chair. And it's tighty white. He's on the couchside.
Speaker 3: I hope you. I hope at some point you too
Speaker 3: get in. You're like relax, bro like relax.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Tidy Whitey's comment was funny because I don't wear tidy whiteies.
Speaker 1: Let you figure out why that is.
Speaker 2: But moving on from that particular subject, I don't happen
Speaker 2: to consider anything that Lebron has said a laughing matter.
Speaker 1: So y'all wanted me to be serious. I'll be serious, and.
Speaker 2: I know that some people out there that are going
Speaker 2: to be like, I'm milking the story for all it's worth. Well,
Speaker 2: I've been winning in television for quite some time. I
Speaker 2: don't need an incident like this to talk about Lebron,
Speaker 2: and I don't need an incident like this to get ratings.
Speaker 2: Lebron gives us plenty of ammunition to talk about him,
Speaker 2: both good and bad. So let's get that out the
Speaker 2: way first. Let's also get out the way that major,
Speaker 2: major props to Pat McAfee for getting that interview. There's
Speaker 2: a lot of people that's been texting me and he's
Speaker 2: a teammate, he's on ESPN.
Speaker 1: Why would he do that.
Speaker 2: Please y'all be quiet. Pat McAfee did nothing wrong. Pat
Speaker 2: McAfee did his job. Pat McFee has a show that
Speaker 2: airs on ESPN. You have a Lebron opportunity to get
Speaker 2: Lebron James, you take him. I'll give a damn who
Speaker 2: you are. This is one of the greatest players in
Speaker 2: the history of basketball.
Speaker 1: You get him. If you have an opportunity to get him,
Speaker 1: you get him.
Speaker 2: And I didn't think that Pat McAfee disrespected me or
Speaker 2: did me wrong in any way. He did his job
Speaker 2: and I got no problems with it. My issue is
Speaker 2: with Lebron James, and I just want to say for
Speaker 2: the record, Lebron James is full of it, and in
Speaker 2: this particular instance, as it pertains to his son, he
Speaker 2: is a liar. And he went on national television today
Speaker 2: and he lied again. You see when he approached on
Speaker 2: He approached me while I was sitting courtside at that
Speaker 2: game against the New York Knicks. When he rolled up
Speaker 2: on me. I didn't know he was going to roll
Speaker 2: up on me. I had no idea. But when he
Speaker 2: said what he had to say. I was in no
Speaker 2: position to give any kind of retort without making a scene.
Speaker 2: It was during the third quarter, it was fresh out
Speaker 2: of a time out. It was him walking to the
Speaker 2: basketball court. It was on national television. The cameras were rolling,
Speaker 2: and had I done something, what do y'all want me
Speaker 2: to do?
Speaker 1: You want me to act?
Speaker 2: You want this to be a reincarnation of Chris Rock
Speaker 2: and Will Smith. And let me stay for the record
Speaker 2: that while we bring up that, let me assure you
Speaker 2: it wouldn't have gone down like that. I would have
Speaker 2: gotten my ass kick because had that man put his
Speaker 2: hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him
Speaker 2: immediately that I'm not going to tolerate. But I knew
Speaker 2: he wasn't going to do something like that. There was
Speaker 2: no fear in my mind about it. It was shocked because,
Speaker 2: as I have repeatedly stated, I.
Speaker 1: Was not talking about his son.
Speaker 2: I was talking about him and whether it's the video
Speaker 2: that you saw him A couple of days later after
Speaker 2: that incident, when he was talking to Richard Jefferson, my
Speaker 2: colleague at ESPN, before an ABC game in Boston, when
Speaker 2: it got blown out that night by the Celtics or
Speaker 2: in the aftermath of it, including Pat McAfee's show when
Speaker 2: he talked about me getting personal and taking it beyond basketball.
Speaker 2: I'm getting to a point where I'm getting very annoyed
Speaker 2: at people who cover the game of basketball, who cover
Speaker 2: professional sports, pundits out there, including him in a circle,
Speaker 2: his family members, and everybody else included. When are y'all
Speaker 2: going to ask him or hold him accountable for the truth.
Speaker 2: I have not been talking about Bronnie James. I have not,
Speaker 2: as lebron James accused me of doing, to my face,
Speaker 2: been shitting on his son. I clapped back at d
Speaker 2: Wade and Mellow, two brothers I love deally when they
Speaker 2: were talking about this, even though ninety nine percent of
Speaker 2: the stuff they said was right, it was not clapping
Speaker 2: back of the son your second round pick fifty fifth. Overall,
Speaker 2: there's been plenty of second round picks that have to
Speaker 2: work their way up through the ranks before getting to
Speaker 2: the pro level.
Speaker 1: Me pointing that out.
Speaker 2: About his son and talking about how his son has
Speaker 2: been pushed to the forefront, thereby put in a line
Speaker 2: of fire for folks in the media to come at him,
Speaker 2: is not denigrating his son. It's simply highlighting what we
Speaker 2: all knew, which is that he's not ready yet. But
Speaker 2: based on what we've seen from Bronnie recently, there are
Speaker 2: indications that he will be. And as Lebron James pointed
Speaker 2: out on the Pat McAfee Show today, it's probably sooner
Speaker 2: than later because his growth and his maturation from just
Speaker 2: a year ago has happened by leaps and bounds. Nothing
Speaker 2: but respect and appreciation, wishing Bronnie nothing but the best.
Speaker 2: This is not about Bronnie. This is about Lebron. This
Speaker 2: is about Lebron. And when you sit up there and
Speaker 2: you talk about I love talking about don't need something
Speaker 2: like this to happen to talk about Lebron. He plays
Speaker 2: for the Lakers. He is Lebron James. I don't need
Speaker 2: an incident like this to talk about Lebron James. And
Speaker 2: do I use him for ratings? You're damn right, like
Speaker 2: I use anything in the news for ratings, because I'm
Speaker 2: a reporter and a personality and abundant and a commentator.
Speaker 2: That's my career. Of Course I talk about him, of course,
Speaker 2: I talk about anything relevant in the news. One minute,
Speaker 2: it's Lebron another minute, it's the Cowboys, y'all act like
Speaker 2: that's all I talk about. For two hours a day,
Speaker 2: ten hours a week live, all I talk about is
Speaker 2: Lebron and the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Are you sure?
Speaker 2: Because I can pick a whole bunch of things I've
Speaker 2: gotten in trouble for for opening my mouth about. But
Speaker 2: that's neither here nor there, because listen, I get distracted
Speaker 2: from the real point in hand. The real point in
Speaker 2: hand is this Lebron James continues to lie. He hoodwink
Speaker 2: y'all in the thinking that he was upset about criticism
Speaker 2: about his son. If your son is a professional basketball
Speaker 2: player and I was talking about your son as a
Speaker 2: basketball player, since you just went on Pat McAfee show
Speaker 2: it and said you would never knock anybody for talking
Speaker 2: about the game, then what is it that I said?
Speaker 1: What I said was as a father. Stop.
Speaker 2: I wasn't talking about you as a father, as somebody
Speaker 2: that's home minded your business, and I just call you
Speaker 2: out because your son is in this position. That's not
Speaker 2: the father I've been talking about. That's why I've been
Speaker 2: addressing Draymond Green, who's been an avid supporter of Lebron
Speaker 2: on this matter. All I'm asking is for comprehension of
Speaker 2: the actual point. How do you mention Bronnie James without
Speaker 2: bringing up how he got drafted by the Lakers? How
Speaker 2: you got drafted period. How do you bring that up
Speaker 2: without bringing up Lebron James saying he was better than
Speaker 2: some NBA players before he got to the NBA.
Speaker 1: How do you bring that.
Speaker 2: Up without bringing up that Lebron James said quote, if
Speaker 2: you want me draft my son at this point, it.
Speaker 1: Ain't about the money. I'll play for free. That was
Speaker 1: Lebron How is it? I mean, I understand cynics.
Speaker 2: I understand this pension to just hate the player and
Speaker 2: not the game. I understand how it's tempting to just
Speaker 2: come at me because you might dislike me or might
Speaker 2: disagree with me, if you're Joe Public or Susie Public
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: I get it. But don't the truth matter?
Speaker 2: Because there's one person in this ordeal that's telling the truth,
Speaker 2: and it's me. I don't lie to y'all. His ass
Speaker 2: lies a lot, and there's a lot of shady stuff
Speaker 2: that he does. And one of the things is this
Speaker 2: passive aggressiveness and the two faces in this and smiling
Speaker 2: your face and dig you behind the back.
Speaker 1: I happen to know that about him.
Speaker 2: Which is why I don't like him and he don't
Speaker 2: like me. But it doesn't stop me from being fair
Speaker 2: and calling it like I see it. We ain't exchanging
Speaker 2: Christmas gifts, We ain't having Thanksgiving dinner together. What you
Speaker 2: bring your son up into there for which you bring
Speaker 2: your family up in there before you're gonna go on
Speaker 2: Pat McAfee show talk about you gonna protect your.
Speaker 1: House talking about your son. Ain't at the house.
Speaker 2: He's at Crypto dot Com arena. We ain't covering him
Speaker 2: in Brentwood. We covered him in downtown LA, at the
Speaker 2: Crypto dot Com arena where you put him.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I happen to believe that he's going to be ready.
Speaker 2: I think Bronni's gonna be an NBA player. I believe
Speaker 2: in the kid personally. But Lebron did this now to
Speaker 2: get to he and I could y'all please go back
Speaker 2: to the video of him getting in my face. If
Speaker 2: you watch Ladies and Gentlemen and you see it for yourself,
Speaker 2: notice how Lebron is in my face, and right when
Speaker 2: he finishes, he looks past me, right at the camera.
Speaker 1: That was filming it. Watch them. I didn't even pick
Speaker 1: that up.
Speaker 2: First go round. You got Markeith Morris to my right,
Speaker 2: his left. You got Scott Brooks, assistant coach behind him.
Speaker 2: He finishes talking and looks right up to the camera.
Speaker 2: Everybody and their mother knew I was gonna be there,
Speaker 2: because when you sit courtside, the Lakers have an idea
Speaker 2: of who's gonna show up.
Speaker 1: He knew I was.
Speaker 2: Coming and pick the third quarter in the middle of
Speaker 2: the game to say what he has to say, to
Speaker 2: make sure the camera is rolling, and to then look
Speaker 2: at the camera after immediately saying what he said to me,
Speaker 2: with me having no chance to respond. We could have
Speaker 2: went to the back after the game. Lebron James could
Speaker 2: have came right over the press row and said, Yo,
Speaker 2: don't leave. I want to see you after the game.
Speaker 2: We gotta have a conversation and before any of these
Speaker 2: players or any professional athlete or anybody associated with them
Speaker 2: says another syllable. Think about this, ninety nine percent of
Speaker 2: y'all would have done that. Y'all said, Stephen, they don't leave.
Speaker 2: I ain't see you Bro after the game. Lebron didn't
Speaker 2: want that because Lebron would have had to deal with
Speaker 2: my response, and my response would have been, you did this,
Speaker 2: This ain't me. Don't put this on me. Why the
Speaker 2: hell are you putting your son in this position knowing
Speaker 2: we got to cover him. If we don't cover him,
Speaker 2: we ain't doing our job. Why would you do that?
Speaker 2: That's what I would have said to him, But he
Speaker 2: didn't want a response. He didn't want that because Lebron
Speaker 2: wanted to give smoke. He didn't want to take any
Speaker 2: What am I talking about? I have even more nuggets
Speaker 2: of info to give y'all on that point. Brother don't
Speaker 2: like smoke, He just likes to give it typical bully mentality.
Speaker 2: It ain't working with me. What am I talking about exactly?
Speaker 2: I'll tell you right after this.
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Speaker 1: Prospects, Hey, hey, run your game today.
Speaker 2: I'll give you my picks for two college basketball matchups
Speaker 2: taking place on Thursday, March twenty seventh, when the Duke
Speaker 2: Blue Devils take on the Arizona Wildcats and the Florida
Speaker 2: Gators take on the Maryland terror Pins.
Speaker 1: So let's get to it. First.
Speaker 2: Up, will Dukes Cooper Flag score more or less than zero?
Speaker 1: Point five points. Please, scop, let's move on to the
Speaker 1: next one. Of course, it's more it's Cooper flag.
Speaker 2: Next up, well, Arizona's Caleb Love score more or less
Speaker 2: than seventeen and a half points. This brother something else,
Speaker 2: and he's accustomed to going up against Duke. He knows
Speaker 2: how hype that is because he used to be at
Speaker 2: North Carolina. Look at what he's doing for Arizona now,
Speaker 2: seventeen and a half points. I know Duke's going to
Speaker 2: key on him because he's clearly the star for the Wildcats.
Speaker 2: But nevertheless, the brother can ball. I believe in love.
Speaker 2: I got love for love. I'm gonna go with more
Speaker 2: on this one, two more than seventeen and a half points.
Speaker 2: Next up, well, Florida's Walter Clayton Junior score more or
Speaker 2: less than twenty points. For some reason, as special as
Speaker 2: this brother is, I'm suspecting it's gonna be less in
Speaker 2: this game. I just see him, you know, doing a
Speaker 2: lot more than just scoring, probably have about eighteen or
Speaker 2: nineteen points up to sist up the rebounds, that kind
Speaker 2: of thing. I'm gonna go with less for him on
Speaker 2: this particular one. And finally, will Derek Queen of Maryland,
Speaker 2: the baby face Freshman More scored more or less than
Speaker 2: sixteen and a half points. I'm gonna go with more
Speaker 2: because the brothers got size, He's got skills, and he
Speaker 2: can get buckets at any given moment.
Speaker 1: And when he's had a bad game, he scored around.
Speaker 2: Sixteen to seventeen points, So why would I think it's
Speaker 2: gonna be less.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with more on this one as well.
Speaker 2: So let's recap to make sure that we touch on
Speaker 2: all of these guys once and for all. You got
Speaker 2: Cooper Flagg, you got Walter Clayton Junr. You got Caleb Love,
Speaker 2: and you got Derek Queen. More on all of them
Speaker 2: except Clayton Jr. I know, Oh that's risky, but I
Speaker 2: like to take risk on prospects. Taking risk usually leads
Speaker 2: to more money, and that's how I roll. Lebron is
Speaker 2: one of those dudes who believes he's up here and folks,
Speaker 2: particularly in the media, are down here. There are exceptions,
Speaker 2: you know, in moments that he needs others, but that's
Speaker 2: who he is.
Speaker 1: Cool. Lebron has a show called The Shop Once upon
Speaker 1: a Time, Rich Paul's.
Speaker 2: The Maverick Carters came up to me, gotta have you on,
Speaker 2: gotta have you on, I said, simple and playing, no
Speaker 2: problem only in one condition.
Speaker 1: Two conditions. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: Lebron must be there because there are times where the
Speaker 2: shop was heired that Lebron wasn't in attendance. I said,
Speaker 2: I show up. Lebron has to be there. Number one
Speaker 2: and number two. No editing, don't edit shit out, cliff
Speaker 2: note stuff, clip things.
Speaker 1: Cut it out.
Speaker 2: Nah, let the public see. I know if I told
Speaker 2: him to come off first take, he ain't gonna want
Speaker 2: to do that because he've viewsed that as benefiting me.
Speaker 2: I know that if I wanted him to come on
Speaker 2: this podcast, he viewed that as benefiting me.
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: I offered to come on his spot, name the time
Speaker 2: and place, and I'll show up by my damn self.
Speaker 2: I was never taken up on that offer, because you see,
Speaker 2: it's real easy to talk that talk like you got
Speaker 2: all the facts when I'm not there to respond.
Speaker 1: It's another thing entirely if I'm near to refute all
Speaker 1: the bullshit coming out your mouth. But this is what
Speaker 1: he does, it's what he's always done.
Speaker 2: And then he looks at everybody else, and he said
Speaker 2: this Stevede, Si man, please whatever, whatever. Why do I
Speaker 2: take this so seriously because you got cats out there
Speaker 2: trying to give the impression that I come after people's families.
Speaker 2: I need y'all a pause for one second, and I
Speaker 2: just need y'all to think. I'm just talking to the
Speaker 2: professional athletes out there. I'm not gonna even mention any
Speaker 2: names who have rallied to the support of Lebron like
Speaker 2: he's this big victim. They are owners, there are general managers,
Speaker 2: there are coaches, there are other players and other sports,
Speaker 2: what have you. Nepotism exists in every form of business.
Speaker 2: We can muster in our minds. It's okay, it's okay,
Speaker 2: But when have you seen someone demand that the public
Speaker 2: stands down while somebody has lifted up their offspring before
Speaker 2: it was earned. When has that happened. I'm not talking
Speaker 2: about Bronnie now and what we're seeing. I'm not even
Speaker 2: talking about Bronni from my mothergo or whatever. I'm just
Speaker 2: talking about in general, what the whole spectrum before he
Speaker 2: bounced the ball, What we saw, what we witnessed Lebron
Speaker 2: doing and manipulating. Tell me when we've seen somebody do
Speaker 2: that for someone who was universally recognized as not necessarily
Speaker 2: ready yet, not that he wouldn't be, but not necessarily
Speaker 2: ready yet.
Speaker 1: That's what he asked of us.
Speaker 2: So I again was talking about Dad as in YO, he's.
Speaker 1: In public eye.
Speaker 2: Don't expose him like this to us because we got
Speaker 2: a job to do.
Speaker 1: Don't do that, That's all.
Speaker 2: I wasn't the one that brought up the legitimacy of
Speaker 2: his McDonald's all American appearance on the roster.
Speaker 1: Kenji Perkins did that. Numerous people pointed to other.
Speaker 2: Folks in high school basketball at the time, and they
Speaker 2: were questioning their worthiness.
Speaker 1: I didn't do that.
Speaker 2: When had the heart ailment, Oh my god, I hope
Speaker 2: he's okay. We decided to pass up staying at USC
Speaker 2: and turn pro cool. When Opening Night took place in
Speaker 2: the Griffies were intended, I was in Crypto dot com
Speaker 2: rena standing clapping. All of that got ignored. Why didn't
Speaker 2: get ignored, ladies and gentlemen, because Lebron. It wasn't about
Speaker 2: the problem that Lebron had about his son. It was
Speaker 2: Lebron having a problem and finally finding an excuse to
Speaker 2: do what he always wanted to do, which was confront
Speaker 2: me in an unfortunate and public platform. I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: go as far as I want to go in saying
Speaker 2: how weak that stuff is. In terms of how he
Speaker 2: confronted me, I would have waited. I got nothing to
Speaker 2: say to him.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: You know, we'll probably never speak in life again. But
Speaker 2: if he wanted, you know, I wish he had the shop.
Speaker 2: I wish he invited me on, not my platform, his platform.
Speaker 2: You can't defend the stuff that he's done. You have
Speaker 2: no idea, but he knows. I know we want to
Speaker 2: go there. Let's go there slithering and just through stuff
Speaker 2: and always with the two faced nods up ooh, y'all
Speaker 2: don't know the half y'all don't know. So when he
Speaker 2: went on Pat McAfee's show earlier today, it was no surprise,
Speaker 2: the show that comes on after first take, the show
Speaker 2: that stars me. I know that you got a new
Speaker 2: podcast coming out with Steve Nash. No surprise there, JJ Redick,
Speaker 2: Steve Nash, no surprise, got the podcast coming out. Definitely
Speaker 2: want to promote that basketball podcast and we should watch it.
Speaker 2: We should learn because Lebron knows more basketball than most
Speaker 2: people forgot just like he said to Pat McAfee, his mind,
Speaker 2: he thinks the game. Most of these people rely on
Speaker 2: their athleticism and their talents and their skill. He relies
Speaker 2: on his brain. He's absolutely right, and he knows basketball
Speaker 2: backwards and forwards. That has nothing to do with how
Speaker 2: you've treated to people. That has nothing to do the
Speaker 2: things that you've said. That has nothing to do with
Speaker 2: you confronting me about doing my job. And everybody wants
Speaker 2: to look at and say, as a father's a father's
Speaker 2: a father? Because I said as a father, I stand
Speaker 2: by that, not because he's Bronnie's father.
Speaker 1: I stand by it.
Speaker 2: Because he was the one putting everything on public display.
Speaker 2: We didn't have to know that he didn't care about
Speaker 2: you know, I'm sorry. We did not have to know.
Speaker 3: That he.
Speaker 2: Was willing to go someplace else practically for free. We
Speaker 2: did not have to know that it was not about
Speaker 2: the money. We did not have to hear him say
Speaker 2: you want me draft Bronnie. We did not have to
Speaker 2: hear him say, my son is better to have the
Speaker 2: players or some of the players.
Speaker 1: In the NBA right now.
Speaker 2: Before you ever played an NBA game, you did that.
Speaker 1: That was Lebron James, who did that.
Speaker 2: He wasn't asked that, he wasn't asked his level of
Speaker 2: copa billy and all of this. He goes on there
Speaker 2: and he talks Mack cool.
Speaker 1: I got it. I got it. So it is what
Speaker 1: it is.
Speaker 2: There's really not much else to say other than this,
Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen, it's very important that you understand what I'm.
Speaker 1: About to say to me. Anyway.
Speaker 2: I'm not a liar. I might not like what I say.
Speaker 2: Every truth ain't meant to be told, but I don't
Speaker 2: go into airwaves and lie. I did not know we
Speaker 2: were being videoed at courtside. He was walking out of
Speaker 2: a timeout. I did not know initially that after he
Speaker 2: finished getting in my face he looked right up at
Speaker 2: the hamra.
Speaker 1: Go back and look at the angle. I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that.
Speaker 2: When I went on the air the next morning. We
Speaker 2: had a morning meeting, at which time I said to
Speaker 2: the staff at first tape, I don't feel like talking
Speaker 2: about this, And then minutes later they said, it's the
Speaker 2: number one trending topic in sports.
Speaker 1: You have to talk about it. The bosses, you have
Speaker 1: to talk about it. What do you mean you ain't
Speaker 1: talking about it. This is what you do. This is sports.
Speaker 2: This is a sports story, and it directly evolves you.
Speaker 2: What you mean you ain't talking about it? So he
Speaker 2: might think I'm salivating and I was happy to discuss it.
Speaker 2: I'm not happy to discuss the dude getting in my
Speaker 2: face telling me stops on his son. I'm not happy
Speaker 2: about that. I think Savannah is the first Lady of
Speaker 2: the NBA. I think she's an absolutely wonderful human being
Speaker 2: that has always been nothing but kind to me. You
Speaker 2: think I like the thought of pissing her off.
Speaker 1: Gloria James.
Speaker 2: An absolutely wonderful person that I have seen over the
Speaker 2: years and has never been anything but the most pleasant
Speaker 2: person in the world to me. I don't like the
Speaker 2: thought of upsetting her or anybody that cares about him.
Speaker 2: I certainly don't want to hurt Bronnie. I'm rooting for
Speaker 2: the kid. But the news is the news, the sport
Speaker 2: is the sport, and the story was the story. So
Speaker 2: lebron can be say anything he wants and I wanted
Speaker 2: to talk about him or whatever, And I'm gonna continue
Speaker 2: to talk to you about about you, bro when you retire,
Speaker 2: let's see how much I talk to you about you,
Speaker 2: then you won't matter much. I promise you, I won't
Speaker 2: be talking about you much when you stop playing. As
Speaker 2: long as you're playing, I'm gonna talk about you because
Speaker 2: that's my job, and i'm gonna be very objective about it.
Speaker 2: You deserve praise and give it to you. You deserve criticism.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna give that to but at least I'm going
Speaker 2: to tell the truth instead of lying. Like Lebron James
Speaker 2: has been lying, using his son as an excuse to
Speaker 2: say what he said to me. He has a problem
Speaker 2: with me. He knows good and damn well, I wasn't
Speaker 2: shitting on his son. He has a problem, and instead
Speaker 2: of talking to me about it, he came at me
Speaker 2: when I was in in a position to respond, and
Speaker 2: then when he wanted to respond in a lap, he
Speaker 2: went to Pat McAfee. Major props to Pat McFee again
Speaker 2: forgetting it. Anybody would have gotten it. Damn it, you
Speaker 2: did it. I have no problem with Pat McAfee whatsoever
Speaker 2: what he did with this interview. I'm not insulted or
Speaker 2: offended or betrayed by a teammate.
Speaker 1: Or anything like that. That's nonsense. He did the right thing.
Speaker 1: Lebron is the coprid here. But far be it for
Speaker 1: me to say that about King.
Speaker 2: James Kings don't get blames. I guess that's why he's
Speaker 2: not my king. I got more to say about some
Speaker 2: things he said about other people during this interview with
Speaker 2: Pat McAfee in a minute, right after I pay these bills.
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Speaker 1: You know, this is what happens. This is what happens
Speaker 1: when it comes to Lebron James. And by the.
Speaker 2: Way, this is the thing that is just so funny.
Speaker 2: You know, weeks ago when I got annoyed as something
Speaker 2: he said he was talking about people shitting on the
Speaker 2: game every day. Wasn't it Lebron James that should it
Speaker 2: on the NBA in the playing tournament. Wasn't it Lebron
Speaker 2: James that showed up and notified the NBA at the
Speaker 2: last minute that he wasn't gonna be participating an NBA
Speaker 2: All Star Weekend. I don't know whether it was because
Speaker 2: he didn't like its new format or not.
Speaker 1: Wasn't it Lebron.
Speaker 2: James who were reportedly sitting in the locker room with
Speaker 2: players and Doctor j and Larry Bird talked to the
Speaker 2: players about playing hard and giving the fans what they
Speaker 2: want to see and how important All Star Weekend was
Speaker 2: and the NBA thought that the players really really had
Speaker 2: bought in until Lebron James gave them, gave the players
Speaker 2: a side eye, and then all of a sudden, they
Speaker 2: went out and allowed almost four hundred points to be
Speaker 2: scored in the last All Star Game before this just passed,
Speaker 2: before this one just passing twenty twenty five?
Speaker 1: Wasn't that Lebron.
Speaker 2: I told y'all when he took his talents to South Beach,
Speaker 2: and nobody gonna say I had to complain about that.
Speaker 2: My complaint was about Kevin Durant going to Golden State
Speaker 2: after being up three to one, losing the series to them,
Speaker 2: and then joining them a month later.
Speaker 1: But we've been passed that.
Speaker 2: We've been over that, and I wish Kevin Durant nothing
Speaker 2: but the best clownish comments about me at all. But
Speaker 2: Lebron James. I certainly never had a problem with Lebron
Speaker 2: James going to Miami. Nothing's more special than South Beach,
Speaker 2: and that brother had me in South Beach four consecutive Junes.
Speaker 2: I was grateful to Lebron James. I wasn't mad, But
Speaker 2: when he decided to take his talents to South Beach
Speaker 2: and did so without showing the corner in respect of
Speaker 2: at least giving Dan Gilbert a heads up that that
Speaker 2: was what he was going to do, because he decided to,
Speaker 2: you know, run an event essentially with Jim graysonting down
Speaker 2: and he called. He talked about generating over two and
Speaker 2: a half million dollars for a worthy cause, fair enough,
Speaker 2: but it being televised on ESPN, and ultimately making his
Speaker 2: announcement that he was taking his talents to South Beach.
Speaker 2: Did y'all remember what happened in the aftermath of that?
Speaker 2: Remember a collective bargaining negotiation that followed where players were
Speaker 2: stripped to seven percent of basketball related income, I mean
Speaker 2: commission at stern and those guys were coming forward anyway,
Speaker 2: but nevertheless they're angs to do so.
Speaker 1: Definitely was heightened after that.
Speaker 2: Remember when Chris Paul got moved and got traded to
Speaker 2: the Los Angeles Lakers. But Dan Gilbert, who had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with the deal whatsoever, wrote an open letter
Speaker 2: to the league going absolutely ballistic as to how the
Speaker 2: Lakers could get the very very best player in that trade,
Speaker 2: which was Chris Paul, and basically come out with not
Speaker 2: even having to pay but so much for it. They
Speaker 2: were actually making money while trading for Chris Paul and
Speaker 2: acquiring Chris Paul in the process, and David Stern to
Speaker 2: the facto owner for the New Orleans Pelicans at the time,
Speaker 2: because obviously they didn't have new ownership, so the league
Speaker 2: the facto owned it for the moment in time. Nick
Speaker 2: the deal well, while was Dan Gilbert so insistent on
Speaker 2: not minding his business and speaking out against this socifferously
Speaker 2: because he was still pissed off at how he was
Speaker 2: treated by Lebron James. See, Lebron gets his money, but
Speaker 2: this collateral damage that he leaves in this wake all
Speaker 2: over the place, and other players don't usually see that
Speaker 2: until it's too late.
Speaker 1: But we don't talk about that because he's box office.
Speaker 2: And he's phenomenal, and he's on the Mount Rushmore Basketball
Speaker 2: and where he goes. Ratings follow and because of that,
Speaker 2: we gloss over those facts. But those ain't the only
Speaker 2: facts we gloss over. When Lebron talked about the media
Speaker 2: weeks ago, what does he do now? He comes on
Speaker 2: Pat McAfee's show to Get Again.
Speaker 1: Today and listen to what he had to say. Listen closely,
Speaker 1: check it out.
Speaker 3: See a lot of shit too. Like I seen Brian
Speaker 3: Wainhurst on one of these shows not too long ago,
Speaker 3: like you guys played together. Guy was like, you know,
Speaker 3: he says he's like my best friend. These guys was
Speaker 3: just this is weird.
Speaker 2: I have worked with Brian Windhors for years. Never once
Speaker 2: did he say that Lebron was a best friend. A
Speaker 2: matter of fact, years earlier, it was Lebron who sat
Speaker 2: in front of the microphones and said, probably nobody knows
Speaker 2: me better than Brian Windhors, who's been covering me since
Speaker 2: I was in junior high school. But that's how he
Speaker 2: talked about him. Brian Windhorse is an exceptional commentator who
Speaker 2: does a phenomenal job for ESPN my show Get Up
Speaker 2: NBA Today, Sports Centers goes and covers the game. He
Speaker 2: is one of the elite people covering the NBA in
Speaker 2: this world.
Speaker 1: And nobody, I repeat nobody defense Lebron James more than
Speaker 1: that man.
Speaker 2: And look at what Lebron James did. Y'all have watched
Speaker 2: Wendy report for yours. Tell me one time, tell me
Speaker 2: one thing that Brian went to us has done to
Speaker 2: negatively impact Lebron James one take your time. I'll wait,
Speaker 2: nobody is more fair. Nobody digs deeper, maneuvers through the
Speaker 2: crevices to find the positive about Lebron James, no matter
Speaker 2: what the story is.
Speaker 1: But that's how Lebron talked about him. You don't stop that. Though.
Speaker 2: He also went into today's players compared to yester year.
Speaker 2: I thought that was a subject he didn't want to touch.
Speaker 2: I thought that we should just have an appreciation for
Speaker 2: the game and not really really compare. Lebron James is
Speaker 2: one of the people that told us that until he
Speaker 2: had the platform event, and look at what he.
Speaker 4: Said every single day that he's better. He's not better.
Speaker 3: He wouldn't.
Speaker 4: You're trying to tell me Jannis wouldn't be able to
Speaker 4: play an NBA game in the seventies.
Speaker 3: He wouldn't be able to do.
Speaker 4: Jannis answer the Koupo would have two hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: points in a game in the seventies.
Speaker 3: Two hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2: Perhaps, But wasn't that disrespectful to the pioneers who paved
Speaker 2: the way for this game, Ladies and gentlemen. Would Julius
Speaker 2: Irvin have been who he was if it were not
Speaker 2: for Connie Hawkins, would Michael Jordan had had a model
Speaker 2: to emulate and elevate beyond. If it were not for
Speaker 2: Julius Irvin. What about Vince Carter when it comes to
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan, What about Kobe Bryant when it comes to
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan. What about Shaq when it came to Wilt
Speaker 2: or Kareem or Elajahwan?
Speaker 1: What about the birds of the world when you think
Speaker 1: about uh Jerry West, when.
Speaker 2: You think about somebody like that, the Kobe's of the world,
Speaker 2: the MJ's of the world.
Speaker 1: There was no elgen Bela or Oscar Robinson before them.
Speaker 2: You see, the point is you use previous greatness to
Speaker 2: measure what the level of greatness is currently as times
Speaker 2: have evolved, and you show an appreciation for it, you
Speaker 2: don't get upset because people are out there comparing one
Speaker 2: to the other. You're talking about championships, you're talking about leadership,
Speaker 2: you're talking about durability, which obviously Lebron is tops at,
Speaker 2: not only capabilities which he's on the Mount R's why
Speaker 2: he's on the Mount Rushmore. I could simply sit up
Speaker 2: there and say, you know what, Giannis would have got
Speaker 2: his Jiannie would have been great, but he also would
Speaker 2: have got knocked on his ass a lot, and he
Speaker 2: would have went to the free throw line, and the
Speaker 2: fifth throw line was his achilles heel. With the exception
Speaker 2: of that game six closed out against Phoenix in the finals,
Speaker 2: free throws have always been his achilles heel.
Speaker 1: But he's phenomenal.
Speaker 2: We're able to look and we're able to say, as
Speaker 2: we look at the great Alan Iverson and we look
Speaker 2: at some of the great great small guards in NBA history,
Speaker 2: we also have to take tom to pause and remind
Speaker 2: them about this dude named Isaiah Thomas who was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: With a heart and guts and.
Speaker 2: The leader of the physical bad boy Pistons. We look
Speaker 2: at the game, we talk about Steph Curry, the greatest
Speaker 2: shoot of God has ever created. Oh, by the way,
Speaker 2: he plays a point guard, and oh, my lord, the
Speaker 2: greatest point guard.
Speaker 1: And then a guy like Eddie Johnson.
Speaker 2: For NBA Today or NBA Radio on Sirius Exem reminds
Speaker 2: us all, wait a minute. My definition of a point
Speaker 2: guard is a quintessential floor facilitator, a floor general who
Speaker 2: facilitates for others, facilitates opportunities for others. That's why Steph
Speaker 2: Curry can't get that that's got to be magic Johnson.
Speaker 1: It's a crime to.
Speaker 2: Bring up history, to look at the game and to
Speaker 2: compare it, and I.
Speaker 1: Have an opinion about it.
Speaker 2: When the conversation unquestionably and undeniably involves greatness, if you're
Speaker 2: not great, you're not a part of that conversation.
Speaker 1: Nobody views that as a crime.
Speaker 2: But that man that showed up on Pat McAfee's show
Speaker 2: today because he must be to go. It can't be
Speaker 2: anything else. You lost six NBA Finals. There is a
Speaker 2: the Finals against Dallas that you specifically choked in four
Speaker 2: consecutive fourth quarters of an NBA Finals series against Dirk
Speaker 2: Novisky and the Dallas maverage with Jason Terry or JJ Brea,
Speaker 2: who resembled many me standing next to you guarding you
Speaker 2: and you averaged two point two points.
Speaker 3: And Arter.
Speaker 2: As great as you are, had nothing to do with
Speaker 2: your skill, had nothing to do with their zone defense,
Speaker 2: had nothing to do with your capabilities, had everything to
Speaker 2: do with your heart. The rest of us didn't have
Speaker 2: the skill. You had everything, but also a ten man
Speaker 2: syndrome at that time. Once you learned to win, nothing
Speaker 2: could stop you. If we only went about Lebron, if
Speaker 2: we only looked at Lebron james career since he won
Speaker 2: his first championship. Ladies and gentlemen, we could have the
Speaker 2: goat conversation because since he started winning, My god, it
Speaker 2: is what it is.
Speaker 1: But before that.
Speaker 2: That heart transplant that he needed, it is my belief
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan would have been in the hospital blocking the
Speaker 2: door every single time, figuratively speaking, to prevent him from
Speaker 2: having that heart transplant shut him down, took his heart
Speaker 2: right out of his chest, and wouldn't it allowed him
Speaker 2: to have another heart.
Speaker 1: That's the difference. That's how I feel.
Speaker 2: Others may think differently, clearly that man does, and y'all
Speaker 2: will just sit here and act like that had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with him getting in my face.
Speaker 1: No, no, all.
Speaker 2: Remember how I told you all the story about I'd
Speaker 2: look at rich Paul in them and I say, damn it,
Speaker 2: I got him on the Mount Rushboll I got him
Speaker 2: number two all time, and y'all.
Speaker 1: Act like it's an insult. And Rich Paul looked at
Speaker 1: me and said, it is an insult. Where you get
Speaker 1: that from?
Speaker 2: Not to say that Rich Paul doesn't think for himself,
Speaker 2: because I know he does, but that man feels that way. No,
Speaker 2: he doesn't like me. I don't like him either my
Speaker 2: feelings about him or what they are, and it's based
Speaker 2: on personal interactions and what I've seen in terms of
Speaker 2: how I believe he's treated others. It's my opinion. It's
Speaker 2: none of anybody's business beyond that. His feelings are about
Speaker 2: me talking about basketball, and y'all gonna let him get away.
Speaker 2: We're trying to classify me as somebody who would talk
Speaker 2: about him as a dad, as if I exposed something
Speaker 2: that was happening in the privacy of their home in
Speaker 2: Brentwood somewhere, as opposed to me talking about what's going
Speaker 2: on in the Lakers' uniform at the Crypto dot Com
Speaker 2: arena or elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Y'all go let me get away with that. Y'all go
Speaker 1: right ahead.
Speaker 2: I don't have to approach this subject anymore, but I
Speaker 2: will broach Lebron James any damn time I please. As
Speaker 2: long as he's playing this game. He's a relevant sports
Speaker 2: news topic, and I'm going to do my job professionally
Speaker 2: and ethically. I don't have to like him to do that,
Speaker 2: and he doesn't have to like me in order for
Speaker 2: me to do it. I don't get paid to talk
Speaker 2: to him. I get paid to talk about him. I
Speaker 2: would tell him he's welcome to talk to me anytime,
Speaker 2: but we all know that ain't gonna happen. As I
Speaker 2: told y'all before early in the show, just to make
Speaker 2: sure that it wasn't something that I would benefit from
Speaker 2: in terms of ratings or anything like that, I offered
Speaker 2: to come on a shop when they confronted me. This
Speaker 2: was a couple of years ago. It's never happened because
Speaker 2: it's a little bit different when you got to say
Speaker 2: some of the stuff right in front of the person,
Speaker 2: and a person has facts to refute what you're saying.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's why he didn't want to meet me in
Speaker 2: the back after the game to have a conversation at
Speaker 2: the Lakers game. Maybe that's why he didn't come up
Speaker 2: to me and say wait for me, and he talked
Speaker 2: to you. Maybe maybe that's why he didn't want to
Speaker 2: have to deal with a real conversation about all the
Speaker 2: things that he's done to create this whole brew.
Speaker 1: Ah. I get it.
Speaker 2: I'm not going away, ladies and gentlemen. I don't have
Speaker 2: to talk to Lebron James. I don't know if you've noticed,
Speaker 2: but I'm doing fine. There All beat writers and other
Speaker 2: reporters that have to talk to him, I don't, and
Speaker 2: to be quite honest with you, at this point, don't
Speaker 2: much want to.
Speaker 1: I wish him well. I'm looking forward to covering him.
Speaker 2: As his career slowly crawls to its end, and I'll
Speaker 2: be one of the first thanking him for the greatness
Speaker 2: he's put on display as a basketball player. I, like
Speaker 2: everybody else, will miss him when he's gone.
Speaker 1: As a man. In terms of how I firmly believe
Speaker 1: he elected to handle this situation with the cameraman behind
Speaker 1: him and all this other stuff. I think it's shady
Speaker 1: as hell. That's how I feel.
Speaker 2: That's where I stand, and it's little to nothing that
Speaker 2: he can do to change my mind at this point.
Speaker 2: God bless him and his family. Wish him nothing but
Speaker 2: the best. Look forward to talking y'all about other NBA
Speaker 2: topics as well. And I don't give it damn what
Speaker 2: y'all said. It was no way in hell I was
Speaker 2: gonna let that man talk to bs that he spewed today,
Speaker 2: and I have a response to it that was not
Speaker 2: gonna happen. I'm out y'all, this is Stephen Aismith show
Speaker 2: signing off. I see you in a couple of days.
Speaker 1: Pace of love,