Even a defensive legend like Tony Allen can’t defend against the diehard fans. The reactions his comments on LeBron James drew, he is officially waving the white flag. To the uninitiated, he jumped on the recent debate across the basketball world about James’ defensive legacy. Only a week later, the six-time All-Defensive selection popped by the To The Baha podcast to clarify his stance and plead for peace from James’ fiercely protective fanbase.

“I did not know LeBron James was that heavy in media, boy. I promise you, I don’t want no smoke,” Allen said on the podcast and made the hosts absolutely amused.

“I’m coming on To The Baha right now, man. Tell all what y’all call them —the ‘sexuals’, the ‘Brons–uals’— hey man, hey, hey, hey, hey, tell them truce, little Bruce. Tell ’em truce, little Bruce, for real. Straight up, man. Tell them they can send some of that love to To The Baha out the mud, man. Hey, since they so motherf—ing deep, we see how deep they is. Dam-, they was on my head! They was on my head, bro!”

Theo Pinson and his co-hosts laughed alongside Allen, acknowledging the intense reaction Allen’s initial comments received.

“Boy, you say something about [LeBron]. There’s a lot of ‘Bron haters, but there’s a lot of people who love that man, too. Good Lord, boy! It could get real diabolical out there,” Pinson noted.

Allen admitted he was caught off guard by the online swarm but quickly tried to pivot the conversation toward James’ upcoming role alongside Tyrese Maxey, questioning how James’ and Jaylen Brown’s ball-dominant styles would fit with the young guard.

“My only concern is—my only concern is, what does that do for my boy Tyrese Maxey with all those ball-dominant guys? That’s my only question…” When the hosts suggested Maxey would take a backseat, Allen emphatically questioned, “after coming out the mud?” repeatedly.

The online firestorm originally erupted following Allen’s appearance on The Chris Vernon Show. The NBA champion argued that James’ famous chase-down blocks. like the iconic block on Andre Iguodala in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, helped disguise his overall defensive workload over 48 minutes in comparison to lockdown specialists like himself.

“Anytime you put LeBron on, we can make any scenario… Let’s just say OKC. Do you think LeBron starting out the game on KD [Kevin Durant] to risk picking up two fouls? No, he’s going to stick [Thabo] Sefolosha. So you got 41 minutes of sticking Sefolosha. The game gets tight late down the stretch in the last two to three minutes, you get a chase-down block here and there, then you get the win. Now you’re just a first-team All-Defense? I disagree.”

Allen, whom the late Kobe Bryant frequently praised as the single toughest defender he ever faced, contrasted his own 14-year career as a perimeter anchor for the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies with James’ role.

While James hasn’t been named to an NBA All-Defensive team since the 2012–13 season, critics of Allen’s take pointed out that James frequently locked down elite stars like Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo late in playoff games.

With the online backlash reaching a fever pitch, Allen made sure to call a truce publicly, proving that even one of the toughest perimeter defenders in NBA history knows when to step back.