Miami Heat Legend Gives Take On LeBron James-Stephen A. Smith Incident

In this story:
It's been more than a month since that fateful night when LeBron James confronted ESPN's Stephen A. Smith at the Los Angeles Lakers game regarding the coverage around his son Bronny.
Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem, on his podcast The OGs with co-host Mike Miller, gave his thoughts on the situation.
"I don't know what my take is on it to be honest with you. I wasn't shocked by it by no means. Not at all. It was coming," Haslem said. "It was a long time coming. They were going to have a conversation at some point."
The insinuation there was a years-long build-up between James and Smith was an opinion originally shared by Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony on his podcast with Haslem's longtime teammate Dwyane Wade.
"It was the third quarter of a game, which was strange," Haslem said. "I didn't mind the conversation being had, I probably would have just did it differently. I think I would have met you for dinner, one-on-one, just me and you. I think that probably would have had more of an impact. When I look you in your eye and say what I'm gonna say, you're just gonna understand a little differently. Ain't nobody here with me and you."
Haslem elaborated on why he would have handled the situation in this way, and concedes both parties had sound reasoning behind their thinking.
"You know, so I understand both sides of it and I see both sides of it, and I felt like a conversation needed to be had. But I probably would have just pulled you to the side and took you to dinner. Yeah, and instead of threatening you in front of 30,000 people, I would probably just threaten you one-on-one," Haslem said. "You know me. I'm not the one to let nothing slide, so how am I going to sit here and criticize Bron for not letting him slide? And after that conversation, something's going to get resolved. I don't know if we're going to get to the solution, but something's going to get resolved. Yeah, to me that looked like something that he just needed to get off his chest. It's been a long time. There's been people attacking him a lot. But I do appreciate the clash of the titans."
Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket

Alex, who was born in Miami, is also a producer, co-host and reporter for the Five on the Floor podcast. He has covered the Heat and NBA since 2019 as a season credential holder. He studied journalism at Florida International University.