Stephen A. Smith is not quite ready to admit that he was wrong Bonny James.
But the ESPN personality has laid the foundations for such an admission to “First Take” in the morning after the son and his teammate Lakers superstar LeBron James played Best NBA game.
Two weeks earlier, after Smith was confronted with an angry James On comments that the television analyst had made on her son, Smith had taken the same waves to say that he was not disrespectful by saying that he felt Bronny James belonged to the G League as a recruit.
On Friday, however, Smith told viewers: “I may have been wrong” on the NBA potential of Bronny James this season.
Find out more: Stephen A. Smith says LeBron James confronted him was “ weak ”: “I was talking about you”, not Bonny
This recognition came after Bronny James intensified in the absence of a multitude of his teammates – including his father, Luka Donic,, Austin Reaves,, Rui Hachimura,, Jarred Vanderbilt And Dorian Finney-Smith – against Giannis antetokounmpo And the Milwaukee Bucks.
The result of the game may have been a loss of eruption for Lakers, but Bonny James experienced a revolutionary performance. His 17 points and five assists in 30 minutes were all career peaks, and his three rebounds equaled his best.
“I was very impressed,” said Smith about the performance of Bronny James. “I was very impressed because I saw an elevation of his level of confidence and balance. It was as if it did not really disconcerted him. He did not seem as nervous as he had looked at it in the previous appearances on the basketball field. He looked like someone who belonged. …
“There were movements he put on the ground – skills to handle the ball, arriving at the basket, ending in the basket, stopping for riders, hitting three, 17 points, 7 out of 10 pulling on the field – I was impressed.”
He added: “And if this kind of thing continues, then he will indeed be in the League as a player in good faith as soon as possible. A game does not make this determination. You have to do more than that. But I wanted to make sure I have highlighted this point.”
Smith was seated on the edge of the courtyard at the crypto.com Arena for the Lakers-Knicks game March 6 when James approached him for a dead time And angry with him face to face. Smith said the next day that James had come to him “for confronting me to make sure I pretend what I say about his son.”
Find out more: Bronny James attributes his career career career game during the defeat against Bucks
Smith reiterated what he said on Friday since the incident on Friday, which he had never lacked respect to Bronny James.
“But I thought it belonged to League G to be perfect for the NBA level,” said Smith. “What could have been bad about this is that, obviously, being with JJ Redick and that the staff and the fact of being around the pops and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers – combined with the Gague G, go back and forth – can do wonders for him earlier than we had planned. Because I liked what I saw last night.
“And I’m going to keep the same energy. When he plays well, we’re going to give him accessories. When he doesn’t play well, we’re going to say it. This is what’s going on by covering the league. Maybe his pops haven’t told him that, but I’m going to tell him that. Congratulations for a good performance last night. I hope it continues.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
