In February, tennis royalty Serena Williams made a surprise appearance, lighting up the Super Bowl Halftime Show stage alongside Kendrick Lamar. Whispers started circulating that their act contained a subtle jab aimed at another famous rapper, Draper. American sports commentator Stephen A. Smith caught wind of this, and, recalling rumors of a past connection between Serena and Drake back in 2011 (a connection never officially confirmed by either), he shared a rather strong opinion. “If I’m married and my wife is going to join trolling her ex,” he declared, “go back to his a–. ‘Cause clearly you don’t belong with me. What you worried about him for, and you’re with me? Bye. Bye.” Serena’s husband, Alexis Ohanian, and her former coach, Rennae Stubbs, weren’t having it. Now, fast forward a month, and Smith has landed himself in hot water again, this time for some careless words about NBA legend LeBron James.
The feud between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith has been cooking for some time now. It all started in January this year, when Smith made a controversial statement about LeBron’s son, Bronny: “I am really, really trying to be as respectful as I possibly can be to LeBron James. I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this, stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”
A few months later, the tension between Smith and James escalated, culminating in an in-person confrontation at Madison Square Garden during a Lakers-Knicks game. Videos of their heated exchange quickly went viral.
Smith later revealed the argument stemmed from his comments about LeBron’s son, Bronny James. Throughout this period, Boris Becker had already subtly commented on Smith’s relentless criticism of James, tweeting “Damn Stephan A.”
This week, LeBron James appeared on “The Pat McAfee Show” and addressed his courtside confrontation with Stephen A. Smith. In return, the ESPN analyst attempted to discredit James by sharing some inaccurate claims about the situation.
“If LeBron James wants to see me continue to cover this sport, or he wants to have a problem with me continuing to cover this sport, I suggest that he be happy with the things that I haven’t brought up,” Smith said. “I never brought up really and never really discussed why you were not at Kobe Bryant’s memorial service.”
Did James really snub Bryant’s memorial in 2020 after he passed away in a helicopter crash in 2020? Well, The Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Tonight, and other publications confirmed his attendance, though. However, Smith likely didn’t anticipate the immediate backlash his accusation would face.
Soon enough, Smith came up with an apology, saying, “My apologies and clarification. I misspoke in Hour#1 of @FirstTake today when I intimated that LeBron did not attend Kobe Bryant’s memorial. I corrected myself in Hour#2 when I acknowledged he was indeed in attendance. My mistake. Should not have even broached that subject. It was not my main point. I retract NOTHING else that I said. Have a nice day!”
Seeing this post, Becker re-shared it with the caption, “Man, leave LeBron alone! Who do you think you are? Forgotten who is responsible for the popularity of the game of basketball for many year’s, who btw is the reason you have a job on the …“
Man , leave LeBron alone !
Who do you think you are ?
Forgotten who is responsible for the popularity of the game of basketball for many year’s, who btw is the reason you have a job on the … https://t.co/9TuDweow1N
— Boris Becker (@TheBorisBecker) March 27, 2025
Do you know that LeBron James and Boris Becker have a striking similarity?
Both Boris Becker and LeBron James have a huge admiration for this NBA legend
The German tennis legend, Boris Becker, has time and again expressed his admiration for basketball. Without a doubt, LeBron James is one of his favorite players in the NBA. In October last year, Becker was seen giving his reactions to the historic moment when LeBron James and his son Bronny became the first father-son duo to play on the same NBA team (Los Angeles Lakers).
Then, a few months later, when James celebrated his 40th birthday, Becker reshared one of his posts and captioned it with, “LeBron is a beast!” Not only that, earlier this month, when LeBron James created a historic feat with an unprecedented 50,000 career points, the German was also spotted celebrating his incredible achievement by re-sharing the NBA’s post on his X handle. He captioned that post with, “The king doing his thing …” Who is the real king, according to James, though?
Well, LeBron James recently made an interesting comment about his relationship with Michael Jordan. He admitted that he and Jordan were not on speaking terms. After hearing this, Becker shared his thoughts, saying, “Interesting comment from LeBron about MJ“. However, despite all these, just like Boris Becker, James is hugely inspired by Jordan.
According to Becker, “MJ is a legend,” but did James ever say anything about his admiration for Jordan, though? Well, in a previous interview he revealed, “I wear No. 23 because of MJ, that inspiration that he gave me as a kid in Akron, Ohio, that don’t have much inspiration in your home town, you look at something. It’s gotta be somebody in sports, somebody in music, somebody on the TV screen, so like, Will Smith in Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Michael Jordan playing for the Bulls, Jay-Z, Biggie, and Tupac, that was my inspirations.”
Interestingly, even Michael Jordan had attended Bryant’s memorial service in 2020, along with several other NBA stars. Jordan even broke down in tears while recalling how Bryant would contact him at odd hours to discuss post-up moves and footwork. Later on, Becker also reacted to Jordan’s heartfelt words about Bryant on his IG story by writing, “The Goat MJ.” Well, each of these superstars is a legend in their own terms.
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