Category: Basketball

The LeBron James-Stephen A. Smith feud escalated in big way this week.

Soooo ... whose side are you on? Before you answer, here's a quick recap:

In January, Smith used his platform as an ESPN host to issue an on-air appeal to the Lakers superstar about his son and Lakers teammate Bronny James: “I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this,. ... We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”

This month James angrily confronted Smith, who was sitting courtside at a Lakers game. Smith didn't appear to respond but days later said on the "Gil's Arena" podcast that he thought James' confrontational move was "weak" and "some bulls—."

Read more:Stephen A. Smith would’ve ‘swung on’ LeBron James had he touched him. Lakers star trolls him

This week James responded by taking jabs at Smith on ESPN's “The Pat McAfee Show” ... then Smith said on his own podcast that he would have "swung on" James had the 6-foot-9 superstar made contact during their courtside interaction ... then James posted a video on Instagram meant to mock the analyst's fighting skills ... and then Smith went on a 15-minute rant about James on "First Take."

So, yeah, it was a pretty crazy week.

Still can't pick a side? Here's how some NBA experts feel about the matter.

Charles Barkley: There are only losers in this scenario

During an appearance Friday on "The Dan Patrick Show," Barkley was asked who had a better week, Smith or James? The Hall of Fame player and TNT analyst said he likes both men but "they both had an awful week."

"I’ve always liked LeBron but him being a bully, it turned me off, Dan," Barkley said. "But I will say this: Stephen A., the way he reacted was so lame and weak. And Stephen A. is a good dude, man. LeBron, like I say, I blame him for starting the bullying, going on Pat’s show just bullying people. ‘Cause you know LeBron, he’s a control freak. He knows everything he’s doing. He knew when he walked up to Stephen A. what he was doing.

Read more:Charles Barkley rips 'idiots' at ESPN, future home of 'Inside the NBA,' for saying 'Lakers saved the NBA'

"But the way Stephen A. reacted — going on Gilbert’s podcast, talking tough. Come on, man, you’re better than that. So there’s only losers, Dan, in this scenario. You got the biggest star in the game, you probably got the biggest star on television and they both look bad in my opinion. And what bothers me the most — they're both good dudes."

Matt Barnes: Stephen A. crossed the line

The co-host of the "All the Smoke" podcast posted a video Thursday on Instagram in which he stated that he's taking James' side.

“He’s been getting scrutinized the whole time [he's been in the NBA] and he finally came out and was just unfiltered," said Barnes, a former ESPN analyst who had two stints with the Clippers and one with the Lakers during his 14-year NBA career. "An unfiltered, no-holds-barred with Pat Mac, which was dope. Like, I played against Bron for a long time and I don’t know that side of him. So as a fan, as someone who played against him, I want to know the funny side, the talk s— side of Bron. After 22 years of someone who’s always just [taken] the high road, he was tired of it and let off a clip.

Read more:Matt Barnes dropped as Sacramento Kings analyst weeks after incident at Crespi High game

"Obviously Stephen A. is the person who caught it, but it was really at all of the media. ... Like, I think you guys forget sometimes that this man is human."

Barnes added, addressing Smith: "You my dog, but I think you crossed the line."

And to James, Barnes said: "Keep talking your s—. We didn’t get to see this side of Kobe [Bryant] until later. People want to know what it’s really like, and you gave them a glimpse today, man."

Adam Silver: I particularly feel protective of our players

The NBA commissioner was asked about the situation while speaking to reporters following a two-day Board of Governors meeting in New York. Silver didn't mention James or Smith by name and didn't take sides but did acknowledge "I particularly feel protective of our players."

“There's seemingly as much social media interest in this league at times than all the other leagues combined," Silver said. "So it's a two-edged sword. Sometimes, it's measured in column inches, and it's wonderful to see so much interest in our sport. At the other time, I cringe at a lot of the coverage.

Read more:Adam Silver finalizing contract extension to remain NBA commissioner

“I would just say in terms of [the] back-and-forth, again I haven't had an opportunity to watch or read precisely what went on today, but, of course, would like the focus to be on the play on the floor. And I particularly feel protective of our players, of course, but I recognize that there's a cottage industry out there of media that we are often the beneficiary of that talk about our sport around the clock. But I sure wish it would never become personal.”

Paul George: Both parties aren't wrong

The 15-year NBA veteran and current member of the Philadelphia 76ers told USA Today he thinks neither side is necessarily wrong but they both could have handled the situation better.

“I think obviously LeBron, stepping in as a father —you know, as a parent, you got a sensitive side to that, him standing up for his son and coming to his defense. But I think at the same time where Stephen A.’s coming from, and I’ve heard his side of the story of not actually attacking Bronny, but more so attacking the words and what Bron has said — you know, the hype that he’s put on his son — I think more so attacking that. And, say what you want, sports is very much involved with being critiqued and it’s the field that you put yourself into. No one is above it. You step into the ring, you gotta take what comes with it.

Read more:Paul George 'never wanted to leave' Clippers, but says initial offer was disrespectful

"So I think both parties aren’t wrong. As two Black men, I think they could’ve handled that better. But, you know, I’m all for both sides getting off what they need to get off their minds.”

Gilbert Arenas: LeBron has a point, but ...

Weeks after Smith appeared on the "Gil's Arena" podcast to discuss the courtside incident, Arenas and his co-hosts talked about the continuing drama on Thursday's episode. Arenas, who played 11 years in the NBA, said he understands James' point of view but thinks a conversation between the two men is overdue.

“You gotta figure the man’s got his son involved. Everybody’s passionate about their family. They gonna stand up for their family," Arenas said. "But if I’m looking at Bron, bro, I would’ve just went and hollered at him, you know what I’m saying, on the political side. ‘Cause look how he did it. Bron went on the [Pat] McAfee show, bro. If you want to make this about it being in the media, go and have a debate with him. Let’s talk about this. Let’s sit down and talk about this, man.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Steph assesses tailbone injury severity after return in Warriors' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry returned from his tailbone injury to lead the Warriors to a 111-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.

Following a hard fall in a March 20 contest against the Toronto Raptors, the star guard missed Golden State’s next two games — both of which ended in losses.

After scoring 23 points on 7 of 21 from the field and 5 of 16 from 3-point range, Curry illustrated the severity of his injury, which he described as a “deep, serious contusion.”

“It just reminded me of 2021 when I fell into the stairs in Houston,” Curry told reporters, referring to a similar fall that resulted in a hairline tailbone fracture. “Thankfully, I didn’t break anything or have any bone damage. … I’ll feel it for a while, but I can play, and I can’t make it worse as long as I don’t land on it again.”

Steph Curry provides an update on the "deep, serious contusion" in his tailbone that caused him to miss two games pic.twitter.com/Xr338mze92

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 29, 2025

Curry added that the injury didn’t bother or worry him in his return to game action — he said he’s just “aware of it” — though he isn’t sure how long the injury will linger.

“A week off is great in one aspect because you’re rested,” Curry continued. “But the timing, the endurance of getting through your regular minutes, that was a little bit of a challenge. Down the stretch, just trying to manage the game and not do anything crazy.”

While that break might have helped the 37-year-old regain some physical strength for the remainder of the season, Curry also disclosed the mental effects of the absence.

“I was away from the team for three days, which was kind of weird, but I could fill the cup up a little bit,” he explained. “I thought I was going to play in Miami and kind of went through the routine but wasn’t able to go for the game. So, it was another two days to get my mind right.”

Coach Steve Kerr shared a similar sentiment on his veteran leader’s needed return — but valuable break as well.

“I thought [Curry] looked great,” Kerr said in his postgame presser. “He was moving really well, took care of the ball. I thought Steph played an excellent game. He probably missed his last five or six 3s, so the numbers don’t look great, but he looked like himself and I think the week off did him a lot of good.”

With nine games left in the NBA regular season, Golden State needs Curry to have as much mental and physical energy as possible going forward. After Friday night, the Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota all remained within half a game in the Western Conference standings seeking the No. 6 seed and an evasion from the play-in tournament.

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Steph assesses tailbone injury severity after return in Warriors' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Steph Curry returned from his tailbone injury to lead the Warriors to a 111-95 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night.

Following a hard fall in a March 20 contest against the Toronto Raptors, the star guard missed Golden State’s next two games — both of which ended in losses.

After scoring 23 points on 7of 21 from the field and 5 of 16 from 3-point range, Curry illustrated the severity of his injury, which he described as a “deep, serious contusion.”

“It just reminded me of 2021 when I fell into the stairs in Houston,” Curry told reporters, referring to a similar fall that resulted in a hairline tailbone fracture. “Thankfully, I didn’t break anything or have any bone damage. … I’ll feel it for a while, but I can play, and I can’t make it worse as long as I don’t land on it again.”

Steph Curry provides an update on the "deep, serious contusion" in his tailbone that caused him to miss two games pic.twitter.com/Xr338mze92

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 29, 2025

Curry added that the injury didn’t bother or worry him in his return to game action — he said he’s just “aware of it” — though he isn’t sure how long the injury will linger.

“A week off is great in one aspect because you’re rested,” Curry continued. “But the timing, the endurance of getting through your regular minutes, that was a little bit of a challenge. Down the stretch, just trying to manage the game and not do anything crazy.”

While that break might have helped the 37-year-old regain some physical strength for the remainder of the season, Curry also disclosed the mental effects of the absence.

“I was away from the team for three days, which was kind of weird, but I could fill the cup up a little bit,” he explained. “I thought I was going to play in Miami and kind of went through the routine but wasn’t able to go for the game. So, it was another two days to get my mind right.”

Coach Steve Kerr shared a similar sentiment on his veteran leader’s needed return — but valuable break as well.

“I thought [Curry] looked great,” Kerr said in his postgame presser. “He was moving really well, took care of the ball. I thought Steph played an excellent game. He probably missed his last five or six 3s, so the numbers don’t look great, but he looked like himself and I think the week off did him a lot of good.”

With nine games left in the NBA regular season, Golden State needs Curry to have as much mental and physical energy as possible going forward.

After Friday night, the Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota all remain within half a game in the Western Conference standings seeking the No. 6 seed and an evasion from the play-in tournament.

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Warriors hope resilient win over Pelicans sparks needed resurgence originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After three consecutive troubling performances against inferior opponents, the Warriors spent most of Friday night trending toward a fourth such act, this time against a team considerably worse than the previous three.

The New Orleans Pelicans, 20-53, missing four starters and already seated on the bullet train to the NBA draft lottery, put up all the fight the Warriors could take before Golden State, finally, in the fourth quarter, responded like a team in a playoff race.

The Warriors needed every bit of their 15-point fourth-quarter advantage to slip out of Smoothie King Center with a 111-95 victory that left them still searching for satisfaction.

“I thought we stuck with it,” Draymond Green told reporters in New Orleans. “Got off to a slow start, and then once we found our footing we kind of found our rhythm. And in the second half, it really started to feel like us.

“Not great. It can get a lot better. But I love the way we closed the game.”

Golden State through three quarters managed only a one-point lead (83-82) over New Orleans’ backups before finding their bearings in the fourth quarter as the Pelicans ran aground in ways the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat – the previous two opponents – did not.

The Warriors are so deep in their own quicksand they’re hoping those 12 good minutes, against a team with no business threatening them, are enough to pull them out.

“I thought we played fine,” coach Steve Kerr said. “I didn’t love the passing, especially in the first half, but we took care of the ball better in the second half. We missed some wide-open shooters in the first half and didn’t pass them the ball. That disrupted our rhythm and kind of messed with the game a little bit.

“But overall, I thought we got really good shots. The second half was much better with the ball movement, the flow, and the defense was good.”

That this was such a grind demonstrates that the Warriors, even with the return of Stephen Curry, offered little to signify they have solved the issues that have nagged them since their last satisfying win, March 18 over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Golden State once again fell behind early. Shot poorly. Had the kind of defensive lapses that would be fatal against a quality team. There was, until the fourth quarter, a relative absence of the desperation necessary to have any chance of finishing the regular season among the top six teams in the Western Conference.

The loss Tuesday in Miami pushed the Warriors into seventh place, back into the Play-In Tournament box for the first time since the first week of March. Finishing seventh or lower would send a team built around advanced veterans – who would benefit from recovery time before the postseason – plunging immediately into the Play-In Tournament.

Curry, who scored 23 points in his return after missing two games, explained the team’s desire to climb back into the top six in the West. 

“It’s extremely important,” he said. “You guarantee a series, and you get a week off. Nobody wants to be in the Play-In if you can control the outcome.”

Sixth place is a pipe dream for the Warriors if they shoot 41.3 percent from the field, including 23.6 percent from distance, as they did against the Pelicans. Or if they allow a team to shoot 68 percent from beyond the arc, as the Heat did three days ago. Or if they allow a team to shoot 57 percent from the field, as the Hawks did last week.

While the Warriors were spending three quarters chasing their heels in New Orleans, their closest competitors, the Los Angeles Clippers, were laying a 132-100 roasting on the sub-mediocre Brooklyn Nets. The only team to beat Los Angeles in the last two weeks is first-place Oklahoma City.

This is the point of the season when teams in the playoff race are supposed to be sharpening their edge, blasting lesser opponents and saving their best for those in the same fight. Los Angeles is trending up. The Warriors, 3-3 over their last six games, are trending sideways.

“The last two games, Atlanta and Miami, there were stretches where we were the more aggressive team and more physical,” Curry said. “We got back in the games, even though offensively, we were struggling.

“If we could just keep that energy and that spirit about us, you have to believe the shots will fall at a higher rate. And then that’s when the dam can open and (we can get back to) the basketball we were playing during that 16-2 stretch.”

Next on the schedule are the Spurs, the last of five consecutive opponents with losing records. If the final 12 minutes in New Orleans are some kind of remedy, it will be apparent in the first 12 minutes Sunday in San Antonio.

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