Officially, it was the Indiana Pacers who were vanquished by LeBron James’ buzzer-beating tip-in on Wednesday night in Indianapolis. But after publicly airing his grievances with Stephen A. Smith earlier in the day, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar framed his late-game heroics as a victory in his percolating feud with the ESPN host.
Following the Lakers’ 120-119 win, James took to Instagram where he posted a disparaging video of Smith throwing some weak punches with a private boxing instructor. James added a string of laughing emojis and the text ‘WHOMP WHOMP WHOMPPPPPPPP.’
Onomatopoeia aside, the video was an apparent response to Smith’s comments from earlier on Wednesday. Speaking about his March 6 confrontation with James at a Lakers-Knicks game, Smith told his YouTube podcast audience he would have punched James had the four-time MVP laid a hand on him.
‘Let me state for the record that while we bring up that, let me ᴀssure you it wouldn’t have gone down like that,’ Smith said. ‘I would have gotten my ᴀss kicked, because had that man put his hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him. Immediately. That, I’m not going to tolerate. But I knew he wasn’t going to do something like that.’
The recent friction between the two stems from Smith’s commentary about James’ son and teammate, Bronny, who has split time between the Lakers and their G League affiliate over his rookie season. Smith has blamed James for exposing 20-year-old Bronny to criticism by ostensibly ushering him into the league and onto the Lakers.
With the Lakers visiting the Pacers, James paid a visit to ESPN host Pat McAfee’s Indiana studio earlier Wednesday, where he hashed out the ongoing issues with Smith.
LEBRON JAMES WINS IT AT THE BUZZER 🚨 pic.twitter.com/AZ2xR9zQYA
— ESPN (@espn) March 27, 2025
LeBron took a savage swipe at ESPN star Smith over their courtside confrontation
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) tips in the sH๏τ as time expires to win the game against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. James finished with just 13 points
Read More Stephen A. Smith takes fresh sH๏τ at LeBron James as bitter fallout continues
‘He [Smith] is on a Taylor Swift tour run right now,’ said the NBA’s all-time leading point scorer.
‘It started off with, ‘I wasn’t going to address it. I didn’t want to address it but since the video came out I feel the need to address it.” James continued, referencing Smith’s initial comments on the incident on First Take the day after the confrontation.
‘Are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait for the video to drop, it was your a**. Seriously?’
Smith has maintained he misconstrued his previous criticism on Bronny’s performance in the league, but James dismissed that argument while speaking with McAfee.
‘He completely missed the whole point,’ James said. ‘Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job to criticize or to be in a position where if a guy isn’t performing. That’s all part of the game.
‘When you take it and get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my household but to protect the players.’
But James’s brutal takedown didn’t end there. He continued to eviscerate Smith as he mockingly accused him of being overjoyed to be publicly mentioned by the basketball legend.
‘And I know he’s going to be happy as hell, he’s going to be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him,’ James added ‘He’s gonna get home and grab some ice cream out of the freezer and sit in his chair in his тιԍнтy whities. Relax, bro.’
Smith has expressed his displeasure over being publicly confronted by James courtside.
‘I thought it was weak, I thought it was some bulls***,’ Smith told former NBA star and James rival Gilbert Arenas on a recent podcast. ‘But in the moment, I knew that I was listening to a father.’
He added: ‘Apparently LeBron had walked out at the timeout, and I turn around and he’s right here in my face.
‘He said, ‘Yo, you gotta stop talking s*** about my son. You gotta stop f****ng with my son. That’s my son, that’s my son!”
Following the Lakers’ 120-119 win , James took to Instagram where he posted a disparaging video of Smith throwing some weak punches with a private boxing instructor
View this post on Instagram
Cameras caught the NBA star having a heated exchange with Smith at a March 6 Lakers game
A few days after the incident, a new video emerged which appeared to show LeBron speaking about it with Smith’s ESPN colleague Richard Jefferson.
‘That’s the only thing I’m tripping,’ James could be heard saying to Jefferson. ‘I don’t give a f***. Once he talks about: ‘I’m pleading to you as a father’. I can’t.’
Smith said he was ‘really p****d’ after seeing James’ discussion with his co-worker, despite stressing that it vindicated his original comments about Bronny – having accused the Lakers icon of opening his son up to criticism.
‘Even though I thought that he misrepresented the argument, I was glad he did,’ Smith continued. ‘Because you see, what he was really talking about, which was confirmed with his conversation with Richard Jefferson, is that I was talking about him as a father.
‘And so what happens is… had he said that to me, then I wouldn’t have been thrown off. I’d have came right back at him [and said], ”Yes I was. I was talking about you, you did this s***.”’
As for Wednesday’s game, James had only 13 points, but still managed to push his double-digit scoring streak to 1,283 games.
‘It’s whatever it takes to help your teammates win,’ James said. ‘I can do other things to impact the game, that´s the beauty of my game, I’ve always built it my whole life as far as being three-dimensional, being able to get my guys involved, being able to rebound, defend and sprinkle some points in here and there.’
