Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "LEBRON JAMES VS. STEPHEN A. SMITH FULL BEEF TIMELINE EXPLAINED"

Episode Date: April 9, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠ Dive into the heated LeBron James vs. Stephen A. Smith feud in this "Notorious Mass Effect" segment with Analytic Dreamz. From Smith’s January 28, 2025, critique of Bronny James’ NBA readiness to LeBron’s viral March 6 confrontation at Crypto.com Arena, explore the timeline and key details. Smith’s "First Take" responses, LeBron’s Pat McAfee Show clapback, and public reactions from Charles Barkley and Shannon Sharpe fuel this clash. Analytic Dreamz unpacks the personal stakes, media frenzy, and NBA drama as the playoffs loom.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Now, of course, we got to go full screen for this because January 28, 2025, that date is going to go down in history and starting one of the greatest views in sports history. Why? Because for the simple fact that this crossover was unexpected. It's almost like when Superman and Spider-Man cross over into each other's universes. We're like, hold on now. These two aren't supposed to cross over. they're supposed to be in the own lane covering the universe from their respective sides, right? But that obviously was not the case.

Stephen A. Smith and LeBron is having a back and forth. And at first I covered it. But then it kept going and then it kept going. And then Stephen A said he would have swung on LeBron and LeBron put up a boxing video of Stephen A to clown. I'm like, hold on now. This is a little deeper than. surface level rhetoric. So I wanted to give a complete synopsis and overview of the LeBron versus Stephen A battle.

Because of course, I don't know if it's going to end here, but if it goes any further, all I'm going to say is the advice I gave Stephen A after LeBron confronting him, March 6, 2025, maybe he could, maybe he could have used that advice and took it there before LeBron did because LeBron basically pulled a Kendrick and took it further when he went on a Pat McCaffee show. I think that's how you say. And what he said on that show hit Stephen A directly as now the public perception is that LeBron put Stephen A in a very uncomfortable position to the point where now it seems as if if Stephen A was turned into an ASMR analyst.

Now, before I get more into that, as far as my personal take on what he should have did, let's just go over the overview, right? Stephen A, obviously, is a cover of sports. Brony is in a national basketball association. But because of LeBron James being, in my opinion, the greatest human ever touch of basketball, he inevitably got his son on the Lakers as, I think it was the 55th draft pick. So there was a lot of turmoil with that because people are saying that LeBron should not have that ability to get Brony drafted, not only drafted, but also $5 million, oh, $5 to $8 million, I forget. But the contract that he signed was pretty exorbitant, especially for a person of his stature in the draft, right?

But LeBron is the greatest human ever touch a ball. So those people who had those critiques, I think they're just hating. Nepotism is a real thing. And if you're the greatest human to ever play a sport, I think you should be afforded some level of control over where your son ends up in your career. Right. So LeBron had the option to put his son on his team and he took it. And not only was Brunny not a first round, I don't think he was the first round.

Maybe he was. I don't know. He was a 55th overall draft pick. So it wasn't like the Lakers used some top tier pick on him. I think they ended up getting like Dalton Connect as one of their earlier picks. So I don't understand where the hoop lies about that. But it continued, right? And Stephen A, seeing the bad performance to be nice of Brony James had to come out and say this.

And this is where it all started. Analytic Dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the audio, We're going to play some things. I just want you all to know, this is a complete overview of LeBron versus Stephen A. And this is where I'll start it. Stop this. Stop. I am pleading with LeBron James as a father.

Stop this. Stop this. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is when LeBron turned into a villain. And he was like, hold him now. I know he ain't saying what I think he's saying. We all know that Brony James is in the NBA because of his dad. The first game of the season, opening night, the Griffey's in attendance, father-son duo, playing in an NBA game for first time,

an absolutely positively wonderful story. And then reality sets in. We love what we're seeing from him in the G-League because that's where you belong. as you hone your skills and you get better and you legitimately earn, which I believe he has the potential to do, I am rooting for Brony James. It would be cruel or root against him.

It's a wonderful kid. I wish him nothing but the best. But he's LeBron James' son. And everybody knows what attention that brings. Molly, Doggy, put them up on the screen because I want to see their face when I say this. Right now, Ronnie James is averaging 0.3 points, 0.3 assists.

No, why you repeat it? And 0.4 rebounds. All right. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm not going to lie to you. This is hilarious. Let's keep going on. You know what people are saying.

You know what they're going to do to this kid. In 13 games, he has played. 44 minutes. He has scored four points. He is shooting one of 16 from the field. I just want to interject to say that Stephen A. Smith is one of the greatest orators in human history. I know y'all may say I'm glazing, but hey, I'm just telling them how it is. I try to keep it eight more than 92.

And it's a huge inspiration on myself as far as covering the news. Now, with that being said, Brony James, you know, just to add a little context, you know what I'm saying? Context matters, right? Brody James is currently under a four-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, right? And the deal is worth $7.8 million. All right, let's continue. Zero for seven from three-point range. Not three-point.

How are you doing him favors? We know that he's not ready yet. All right, so that's essentially what made LeBron irate. And if you don't believe me as far as him watching this video, seeing this video, and having very interesting thoughts towards Stephen A because of those sentiments. Here is LeBron talking to another RJ in the entertainment industry, basically giving why he was so upset with what he said. And hopefully it's not too loud. Okay, let me see if I could.

Okay, here we go. All right, so there's subtitles. You can't hear what they're saying, but there's subtitles. So analytic dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the audio. So RJ and LeBron is hugging, right? LeBron says, I know. He says, right, right? I mean, RJ just telling them everything he wants to hear.

He's like, LeBron, you're the greatest. LeBron, nobody's ever done basketball betting you. LeBron, I can't wait to hang out with you again. Like he's saying all the Draymond Green type B tactics, right? So LeBron said, right, right? You know what I mean? You're saying what I want to hear. So he goes on to say, that's the only thing.

I'm tripping. I don't give a F. It's a PG podcast. So we're not going to say what that F stands for. Once he talks about, I'm pleading with you as a father, I was like, I can't, I can't. And then you can see the overall reaction of LeBron. Like, hey, this man has lost it when he said,

I'm pleading with you as a father. Father, like I ain't just gave my son an $8 million contract because at the end of the day, he got his son paid. I mean, say what you want about father. But, you know, ain't that what's supposed to do in society? Set your son up to be better than you financially. and other things considered.

Anyways, let's go on. And then, of course, that was the end of that back and forth between RJ and LeBron, having immense buddy-buddy bromance in the middle of the court before the game. So, of course, I'm a huge fan of Richard Jefferson, just letting it be known. I think he's one of the better analysts that ESPN has.

So to continue, right? Brian and James is making $8 million in under four years. All right, I just had to say that fact. Let's keep going. So initially, LeBron said that. I don't think Stephen A ever saw that, but now let's fast forward to the infamous crossover event in sports history, right? LeBron and Stephen A had a face-to-face, and no, it did not go the way that you thought it might of because, or you thought it would have, because LeBron confronted Stephen A and the greatest order in human history was at a loss for words. And not only was he at a loss for words after the incident of the crossover event, he had stuff to say.

and the tone that he used is not the tone that he usually uses when he's covering sports. I was confused. You know, I cover news for a living. This man screams 24-7. I would say I'm more of an even-kill content creator. You know, I'm not throwing chairs. I'm not screaming at the top of my lungs. And even my voice, after five to six hours, starts to deteriorate.

This man, Stephen A, yells 24-7 and still has his vocal box, right? So with that being said, I think hearing him like this cover and reenact and basically give a play-by-play of what happened between him and LeBron, after LeBron confronting him and told him to keep his son's name out of his mouth, but he ain't do the Will Smith slap with it. But anyways, Stephen A. Smith went on first take to address the infamous crossover in sports history. It was a one-on-one, I wouldn't say a conversation, but it was a one-on-one confrontation. Confrontation. But then I wake up and everybody from ESPN and my agent and everybody. Did Stephen A's dog die? Like, did I miss him?

Did one of his pets like pass away? Why is he not using the same tonality that he used whenever he's covering sports? Maybe I'm tripping. But Stephen A is consistently screaming while covering sports, while covering anything on first take. It's about the ratings, ain't it? Why is he not using the same tonality when he said he was always ready for any player to roll up on him? This is what Stephen A says 24-7. If an athlete rose up on me, I'm ready.

Because I stand by what I say. This is not the tonality I expected from Stephen A. I got to be honest with you. Somebody else were sending me that this thing had going viral. And so ultimately it was unavoidable, and that is why I have to discuss it now. That wasn't a basketball player. I mean, you could, you know how they say you can hear a pin drop? You literally can hear somebody put their phone down.

Hold up. I have to discuss it now. man you can't make this stuff up the tonality is like somebody's pet died i don't know whose was it maybe it was mollies because you know stephen a and let me chill so anyways with stephen a and his tonality it threw me all the way off and his rebuttal was terrible like i'm not even going to play this video like you hear his tone i just wanted to play it just so you heard it right the greatest orator in human history is out here sounding like an asmr analyst but then it makes sense to me why did it make sense because later on stephen a went on the gilbert Arena podcast and guess what type of tone he was using?

Not the one he had on first take. Let's listen to his coverage of or his response to being asked about the LeBron and his, you know, very is a crazy crossover event. So let's go right here. What do you make of LeBron confronting you in the aftermath of that situation? I thought it was weak. I thought it was some bullshit. Hmm.

Completely different tonality. I wonder why. But in the moment, I knew that I was listening to a father. Here's what happened. I'm represented by William Morris Endeavour. The founder William Morris Endeavor, Ari Emanuel, had...

Now, before he breaks his down, I'm going to give you the real reason why I think Stephen A. is mad at LeBron. LeBron has this company called Uninterrupted, right? his agent rich paul is doing a phenomenal job at setting the transition for for lebron to go for from player to analyst right now with the analyst side of the thing he also has a podcast titled mind the game and he has a show titled the shot where he's bringing on celebrities and then he has mind the game covering sports i'm not going to say stephen a feel threatened by lebron getting more and more

to his lane, all I'm going to say is this whole crossover is deeper than you think. And that is why I believe LeBron followed this interview up with his very own. But let's continue with this interview first. Courtside seats right next to the Lakers bench. He had Larry David with him, star of a Kirby enthusiasm. I'm sitting with them. I get there in the first quarter. I'm sitting court side.

and I stand up and then I got my head turned. And then I turned back around. And a lot of people thought this was the end of the game or something like that. This was in the third quarter. And that's what I was saying. My first initial reaction, if you haven't seen it, just type in either LeBron or Stephen A

and the analytic dreams with a Z and the shit pop up. But basically, I said his response should have been, aren't you a professional basketball team? Aren't you a professional basketball player? Your team is losing. That's all I would have said. End the story. you want to talk about this during the game while you're losing

that would have been my comeback because for the time being they was losing by like double digits that's all I would say I'd be like hold on now you're a professional basketball player and your team is losing respectfully I ain't trying to talk about this right now anyways let's get back into what steven a had to say apparently LeBron had walked out of the time out and I turn around and he's right here in my face he said, yo, you got to stop talking shit about my son. You got to stop fucking with my son. That's my son.

On site. And I was like, what? He said, nah, fuck that. I said, yo, let's talk later. He's like, fuck. Why you got to talk later? He's right there. Why don't you tell him right there that Bronny is averaging zero points a game?

Remember all of them stats he regurgitated on first take? Why he didn't say that to LeBron? I thought Stephen A would have responded in the best way possible, but it upset my soul because he did not keep that same energy. You're talking about Brani. No, I'm talking about a national basketball player averaging zero points and getting $8 million in under four years. That's what I'm talking about.

But of course, you know, LeBron's a pretty big guy, right? So some would be intimidated. Until you find out it was in the middle of the game, they lose about double digits. What are you going to do? Will Smithy while he's in the middle of a game? You know what the fine would have been for LeBron, James, slapping, Stephen A.

Anyways, we're going to get to that point in a second, but let's keep going. Nah, fuck that. You gotta stop fucking with my son. And I said, all right, though. And he walked off. So, I remember during a time out in the first quarter seeing Brony.

And Brony looked over at me, and he had this sad look on his face. Sad day in history. And I'm imagining Pop sore that shit. It hit him. And he couldn't hold it, and he rolled up on me. And so when I went on the air the next morning,

first thing first, believe it or not, I know this is shocking for people to believe, but I didn't have any intentions on talking about it until I woke up that morning and saw that the shit had gone viral. All right, so we're not going to let him regurgitate. I just wanted y'all to hear the tonality shift between first take and him going on the Gilbert Arena podcast.

Very, well, drastically different, right? There's a reason for that. I mean, at the end of day, Brony James is 20 years old. I mean, I think some people forgot, but Bronte James is 20 years old. So if he had that immediate reaction to seeing Stephen A, it makes sense. I mean, he's a young guy, probably got all type of emotions.

You know, he's handling it in the midst of him, you know, being in the midst of a grown man league, right? And then you have one of the greatest commentators and orators and history talking negatively about your play consistently. It could really have a mental effect on you. It could take a mental toll on you, right? So anyways, LeBron saw this. view he was like i'm a one up you that's why i said this goes this goes way deeper beneath the surface this man went to pat mcalfi the direct competitor to stephen a because if you don't know his show comes right after first take so not only could lebron have went on uninterrupted and had some type of

pat macafe content but he went on to his show that aired right after first take 100 IQ plays being executed right now on lebron's end and all i got to say is this is probably why he's one of the greatest as human as to ever touch a basketball because of his mind. And, you know, before you say I'm doing tricks, you know what I'm saying? I'm just saying that LeBron is one of the greatest, I think the greatest of all time. But, you know, others say number two or number three. But, you know, MJ was gambling at the age that LeBron just crossed 50,000. But anyway, that's what size the point.

Let's keep going. It's obviously to you and Stephen A. Hey, legit. That feels like a moment that had been brewing for a long time. He's like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're watching. Bringing up musicians.

I wonder why this man is bringing up musicians and the comparison between the back and forth. It's almost like LeBron was inspired by a certain musician beef that we had last year. I'm not saying that he was probably comparing himself today. All I'm going to say is once it starts to elevate to a certain point, he realized, hold up, this is a back and forth. Just like the battle we just witnessed in hip-hop.

If you don't know, LeBron is a huge fan of hip-hop. So once he realized that, he was like, okay, we're playing chess moves. Let me go to Pat McCaffey and get it really popping because Pat McCaffey is unequivocally the biggest as far as cover of the sport. Anyways, it's he gone. Oh, yeah. You're seeing it as well. No, he literally, it started off with, I didn't want to address it.

Yeah, sure. I didn't want to address it. I wasn't going to address it. But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it. Talk to him. Oh, he's cussing. Are you kidding me? If there's one person that couldn't wait to the video.

LeBron, you was on Space Jam. You can't be cussing like that. Seriously. And like another, he completely like missed the whole point. The whole point. Never in my, never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport, criticize players about what they do on the court. That is your job to criticize or to.

you know, be in a position where, okay, if a guy's not performing, you know, that is all, that is all part of the game. That's all part of the game. But when you take it and you get personal with it, it's my job to not only protect my damn household, but protect the players, you know, and I thought that was very well elicuted as it goes back to him adding on to the fact that the only problem he had was Stephen A was him saying, as a father, right? Once that happened, all bets were off.

And LeBron was definitely waiting for his one-on-one confrontation. And he got it. And he came out on the upper, he came, he got the better of Stephen A. As much as it hurts me to say, because I think, well, I'm not going to keep reiterating it. But Stephen A is a huge inspiration for me as far as how I cover news. And the way that he was just at a loss for words in front of LeBron James, I mean, I guess a lot of people would. But you've been doing this for a while. You cover AI in his entire career.

And one could argue that AI is more influential. once you're on the game of basketball than LeBron is, right? So you've been with all these superstar-like figures and covering them for quite some time and you've had personal experiences with them. So you wouldn't think this would flabbergasm the way it did. But, you know, Stephen A saw this, and he had to let loose. He had enough of LeBron James. And by enough, I mean, this man turned into an actual villain the next time he went on

his own show, the Stephen A. Smith show. shameless play and the league dreams as you can see on my uh instagram to be a uh a reincarnation of chris rock and and will smith and let me state for the record that while we bring up that let me assure you it wouldn't it going down like that i would have gotten my ass kick because had that man put his hands on me i would have immediately swung on immediately immediately immediately that i'm not going to tolerate he said he was going to swing on lebron james

ladies and gentlemen hold up LeBron James LeBron James Here we go Yeah All right So Stephen A

was going to swing On LeBron James I just want you all to know Lebron James It's 6 9, 250 pounds Ladies and gentlemen He did say he was going to get whoop But at the end of the day

That's not what we were talking about He said he would have swung on LeBron If we don't stop the cap But then you know what I'm saying I was like damn Look at the state of hip hop Like what's going on? If we don't stop the cap

talking about you're going to swing on a 250 pound man that's one of the most genetically modern enhanced humans we've ever seen on this planet this man was talking like mark from invincible like yeah you can swing on him but the aftermath is going to be something insane and i don't think he wanted to see that especially like i keep saying you know all jokes aside lebrown was in lakers uniform no way that he's ever swinging on stephen eight but even just to give that hypothetical it's like hold up now are we in fantasy he's he laying a reality. So I was confused.

Anyways, LeBron had enough of that, and he took to his Instagram and showcase Stephen A. boxing in the aftermath of saying he would swing on him. And then, of course, he followed it up with young Dolf, you know, rest of peace, young Dolf, but he followed it up with a young Dauph in Key Glock,

with him saying, Wamp, Wamp. And that is, a perfect response because I don't think LeBron's going to give this any more light, which is why I chose to cover this at the point that I did as far as the feud. Because now it's almost as if the feud is over and LeBron got the better end at a stick, pause when it came to his battle with Stephen A. Now, what was my suggestion way before this all started? I'm glad you asked, because when it comes to LeBron James, there's a lot of things that's beneath the smoke and mirrors. And once you become a student of just covering news, right, you start to get tidbits that is not accessible to the general public because they just didn't dive that deep into it or people just don't want to expose them like that.

Sort of like with Ditty with the whole Cassie situation, right? Not talking about LeBron and assault to anybody. Talking about how celebrities have deep, dark secrets that are hidden because of their power, money-wise, and respect, right? did the video with diddy and cassie didn't come out to like well the diddy video with cassie was uh captured like 10 plus years ago right and it's being used as of today in the case why it it takes so long for it to be uncovered nobody knows on a much lighter note not talking about abuse or anything like that when it comes to lebron james there's a lot of things you could have

covered if you really wanted to take it there and because i'm not a petty individual and you know drama field content is not what I gained the following off of. So when it comes to a back and forth, LeBron obviously didn't take it there, which is why Stephen A. kept it so respectful. But my advice, especially coming off the confrontation,

was not as respectful because you was cussing in front of my face, talking about keeping my son name at your mouth. Well, hold on now. Now, I got to get disrespectful. And all I said was, you know, you may or may not may have had to change the moderator spot right tell mollie to take a break and bring in another individual and have her sitting in that seat and let's just talk about lebron's greatest moments in NBA history and that person or moderator may or may not have been yes jules i'm i'm just

saying but anyways with that being said because people probably are going to say why are you saying that person i have like what is the correlation between lebron and that person well you know google is free i ain't going to lie to you but i ain't going to do it here but i ain't going to do it here here all I'm gonna say is it would have been phenomenal because not only are we not taking a personal jabs because I wouldn't not have said why I had her here. I would just say, you know, maybe she's just auditioning for the spot on some Lauren LaRosa type beat on the breakfast club, right? She's just filling in for Molly, right? That's all she's doing. She's just filling in for Molly. I'm not doing anything. But the whole show is going to be about

the Brian James' greatest moments in the NBA because, you know, they say that I disrespect him. Let me put some respect on your name. Right? Right. Right. Anyways, I think that would have went over phenomenal. And you wouldn't have had to be petty, right? Obviously, you being petty without completely being petty. It would have been the greatest move. I ain't going to lie to you. But, of course, that's why when you come over in hip hop land,

we have a lot more aggressive ways of going at back and forth than, of course, the way that Stephen A took it. Because, you know, in hip-hop land, you try to go for the heart. You know what I mean? If you're going to be in a back-and-forth, you got to go for ways. You got to go at them in ways that they won't even understand, right? God forbid we find Delante

Wes on some random corner slinging crack right put him on the show now I got a co-host filling in right so anyway with that being said

that's basically my coverage of Stephen A and LeBron I think at the end of the day you know it's a very disney-fired back and forth

helped out a lot of platforms such as Gilbert Arena such as Stephen A's own show such as first take such as Pat McCaffee Pat McCaffee really ate off that like getting a whole

LeBron interview, uninterrupted, like, no pun intended. Like, it was, no, he came up off of that. And he was already number one. He's like the Joe Rogan of sports analysts. So that was phenomenal. And I think, ultimately, to put a bow on it, Stephen A versus LeBron is going to go down in history as one of the greatest crossovers as far as sports analysts and athletes that we've ever seen.

So, with that being said, click my link to you in my bio. Let me know on one of my social medias. What do you think about Stephen A versus LeBron? And at the end of the day, who do you think came out on top? And if you think either one of them took it too far, what point do you think it went a little bit too far in the back and forth?