Charles Barkley calls Stephen A Smith 'lame and weak' after ESPN star fires back at LeBron James
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Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley weighed in on the feud between ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith and Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James during a radio appearance on Friday.
Smith and James traded barbs in separate media appearances throughout the week. It came after James confronted Smith during a Lakers game over comments the hot-take aficionado made about his son, Bronny. Smith maintained that nothing personal had been said. Smith upped the ante by mentioning the personal issues he could have said about LeBron James but didn’t.
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College basketball analyst Charles Barkley on air before the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Final Four championship game. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Barkley analyzed the war of words during an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show." He said both Smith and James had pretty bad weeks.
"They both had an awful week," he said. "LeBron, he's too big to be that type of bully. To bully Stephen A. and to bully Brian Windhorst. . . . Brian Windhorst, he’s a sweet person, man. He’s just trying to do his thing. And I've always liked LeBron, but him being a bully, it turned me off.
"But I will say this: Stephen A., the way he reacted was so lame and weak. Stephen A.'s a good dude, man. LeBron, I blame him for starting the bullying, going on Pat's show just bullying people, because you know LeBron, he's a control freak. He knows everything he's doing. He knew when he walked up to Stepen A., he knew what he was doing. But the way Stephen A. reacted, going on (Gilbert Arenas’) podcast, talking tough, come on, man, you're better than that.
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