Stephen A. Smith reacts to the viral LeBron James confrontation! But not as expected. Usually, the veteran analyst would unleash a full-blown theatric in his dramatic monologue while covering the hot word of the NBA town. However, this time, it wasn’t anywhere close to that. Instead, Smith, hands down, didn’t want any smoke from the Lakers superstar. The ESPN reporter cleared the air by revealing the exact words from the confrontation and Bron’s best buddy’s involvement in the affair.

Hours after the incident, Smith appeared on First Take early in the morning, giving his first opinion on the confrontation. He addressed that James spoke to him as a father, saying, “That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me.” The 57-year-old stated that the superstar confronted him because of his comments from January, in which he pleaded to Bron “as a father” to stop his son from joining the NBA prematurely after the embarrassing loss against the 76ers.

While Stephen A. Smith went gentle on his explanation in ESPN’s show, he dropped a more explicit version in his podcast, later in the day. In this version, he narrated the whole story. Smith said, “He approached me during the game and said, ‘Stop F-ing with my son. That’s my f-ing son. Stop F-ing with my son.'” Last night, the lipreaders did a fair job, but they weren’t accurate in their words.

Nevertheless, Smith jumped in to clarify it. Not once, but twice. He continued, “I said ‘What?’. ‘Nah Nah Nah. Straight up. Man to man. Real talk. Stop F-ing with my son’ And I saw how furious he was. I said, ‘we can talk later.’ ‘Nah F that F that. Stop F-ing with my son. That’s my son. That’s my son.’ I said, ‘Alright though’. And he walked. He walked away. That’s all he said.” Kudos to those who read them in LeBron James‘ voice. I did too.

Anyway, the revelation didn’t end there. Smith went on to add that Bron’s close friend had indirectly warned the ESPN personality about the situation. It was none other than Draymond Green.

DrayMagic indirectly warned Smith about the LeBron James moment

Despite the ugly on-court match-ups in the past, Draymond Green and LeBron James have grown into best buddies over the last few years. There were multiple occasions where the duo spent time together off the court. Notably, in the recent off-season, the duo, along with their families, went on a Europe vacation. Nuff said.

So, naturally, Green, being himself, wouldn’t let any harm come near his close friend. In the same vein, the Dubs star is one of the few players who took offense to Stephen A. Smith’s take from January. Speaking of Green’s involvement, Smith said, “I’ve spoken about this before. Matter of fact, that not many, not all, but a few players were upset with me about that… One particular player is Draymond Green, who hasn’t spoken to me since. (He) has no desire to speak to me, primarily because of this, I suppose.”

With Green also dominating the podcast world, we might hear some clarification from him anytime soon. Moreover, if Smith had taken the hint from Green’s response to the incident, he could’ve avoided the confrontation. Or he could’ve done some damage control.

Anyway, now that Bron has already confronted the vet analyst, how will Smith report the basketball affairs related to Bronny James from here on? Will he dare to criticize the 20-year-old? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.