{"id":290033,"date":"2025-10-09T19:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T19:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/290033\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T19:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T19:41:11","slug":"think-thats-going-to-make-him-the-goat-over-jordan-stephen-a-smith-bashes-lebron-james-for-chasing-stats-to-rival-michael-jordans-legacy-nba-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/290033\/","title":{"rendered":"“Think that\u2019s going to make him the GOAT over Jordan” – Stephen A. Smith bashes LeBron James for chasing stats to rival Michael Jordan’s legacy | NBA News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\""ThinkStephen A. Smith and LeBron James. Image via: Getty Images Stephen A. Smith already has a beef with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James<\/a>, and previously, with his latest Hennessy commercial, Smith has had enough of the James drama. The \u201cSecond Decision\u201d surely was misleading, not only for the fans but also for the entire big league, now that the season is right around the corner. Recently, the NBA analyst, Stephen A. Smith, criticized LeBron James for \u201cStat-Padding\u201d in his recent report, just to win the GOAT debate. Smith certainly didn\u2019t like it when James compared himself to the Chicago Bulls’ former player and the basketball legend, Michael Jordan<\/a>. Here\u2019s how Stephen A. Smith slammed LeBron James in the recent interview: <\/p>\n

Stephen A. Smith criticized LeBron James for stat-padding to win the GOAT debate<\/p>\n

LeBron James is a tough contender to Michael Jordan, and the word is everywhere around the league. But, somehow, Stephen A. Smith doesn\u2019t like it personally when someone compares James with Jordan, or when James himself compares his strength and abilities to Michael Jordan. This is the long and unsorted GOAT debate, and Smith can\u2019t seem to bear with it. \u201cHe\u2019s going to be 41, he\u2019s in his 23rd year, stat-padding his way to make ignorant folks out there think that\u2019s going to make him the GOAT over Jordan \u2014 not realizing that most of the stuff it took him 20+ years to do, Jordan did in 13\u201d, the NBA analyst spoke on his recent \u201cStephen A. Smith\u201d show. His words came out blatantly, like he did not even care what James would think or say. Smith further accused LeBron James of the unnecessary \u201cstat-padding\u201d. This is something a player does to boost their individual scores rather than actually helping their team win, and Smith is surely against it. According to him, it seems like Michael Jordan is the one and only GOAT. <\/p>\n

NBA drama continues over the beef shared by Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James shares a long-term beef with ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. This is because last season, Smith had let out a harsh take on James\u2019 son, Bronny James, and this surely did upset dad LeBron James at that time. On the contrary, Stephen A. Smith literally had it with James when he tested everyone\u2019s patience with his suspicious \u201cSecond Decision\u201d. \u201cThis was corny as h**l. It was cringy; it was all of that \u2014 we know this\u201d, said Stephen A. Smith out of anger and frustration. \u201cYou\u2019re promoting an alcoholic beverage and trying to give people the impression that this could be your final season\u201d, Smith added further. James\u2019 fans and followers were misled by the Hennesse commercial, and Smith blames the Lakers\u2019 legend for this. Also read: “I’m going to think about that Hennessy commercial and wonder”: Stephen A. Smith had some choice words for LeBron James and The Second Decision<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James. Image via: Getty Images Stephen A. Smith already has a beef with…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":290034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[29011,5723,148831,3363,3141,4255,1260,62,2233,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-290033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-bronny-james","9":"tag-espn","10":"tag-goat-debate","11":"tag-lebron-james","12":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","13":"tag-michael-jordan","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-stephen-a-smith","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115345915446937542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}