NBA commissioner Adam Silver was in meetings with league owners Thursday in New York when he began receiving texts, asking if he is following the acrimonious back and forth between Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.
“I saw some of the headlines that came out of it. I mean it is fascinating,” Silver said when asked by a reporter at a news conference.
Silver then explained he is sometimes jealous of the kind of coverage other sports and leagues get.
“It seems to be more celebratory often than it is in the NBA, and I accept it,” Silver said. “We’re often the beneficiary, too. There’s seemingly as much social media interest in this league at times in all the other leagues combined. 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.
“I would just say in terms of that back and forth again, I haven’t had an opportunity to watch or read precisely what went on today, but of course we’d 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.”
The feud between Smith and James began earlier this season when Smith questioned whether James’ son Bronny deserved to be on an NBA roster to start the season and said in January, “I am pleading with LeBron James as a father: Stop this,’ ” Smith said on ‘First Take.’ “Stop this. We all know that Bronny James is in the NBA because of his dad.”
James and those close to James were not happy, and James confronted Smith at a Lakers game in Los Angeles on March 6.
The verbal spat saga continued this week with James taking digs at Smith on ESPN’s ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Wednesday, and Smith responding on ESPN’s First Take Thursday.