LeBron James’s Ex-Teammates Defend Him After Viral Argument With Stephen A. Smith

Kristen Wong | Mar 8, 2025

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) against the New York Knicks during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers’ thrilling overtime win over the New York Knicks on Friday featured clutch buckets, a near buzzer-beating game-winner and a tense courtside confrontation between LeBron James and ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith.

Cameras caught James and Smith having a heated argument in which the Lakers star walked over to Smith during a break in action late in the game and seemed to angrily tell Smith something. Smith opened up about the confrontation the morning after and revealed on his podcast that James told him to “stop f---ing with my son.” 

The verbal spat quickly went viral on social media, and a few of James’s former teammates chimed in. Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, who played with James years ago on the Cleveland Cavaliers, appeared to clap back at Smith for turning his argument with James into clickable content for his ESPN show.

Love reposted Smith’s tweet claiming he had “no choice” but to address his run-in with James and made clear where he stood on the matter:

You have no choice? lol

Because it went viral? lol

You didn’t want to have to? lol

You wouldn’t have? lol https://t.co/u7g8PTF4Cj

— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) March 7, 2025

Thompson also responded with three simple emojis:

🗣️🗣️🗣️ https://t.co/QVHz6uHJjj

— Tristan Thompson (@RealTristan13) March 7, 2025

James himself has yet to comment on the confrontation, though he’s arguably more focused on playing basketball at the moment with the Lakers (40-21) moving up to the No. 2 seed in the West amid their red-hot eight-game win streak.

---

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed