1. On a recent edition of the Pivot podcast, Stephen A. Smith was asked about his feud with LeBron James, which went to another level last season when LeBron confronted the ESPN personality over comments he made regarding Bronny James on First Take.
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy?” Smith asked Pivot hosts Ryan Clark and Channing Crowder. “Let’s call it what it is. You ever see him do that? You saw him come at me. Closest you ever came to seeing him do something like that was when he called out Brian Windhorst. What you calling out Brian Windhorst for? The man covered you since junior high school and has praised you repeatedly and you used the Pat McAfee situation to go at him. And that’s the only time you ever seen LeBron James really go at somebody white. I’m going to call it what it is.”
Stephen A Smith says LeBron James doesn’t keep the same energy he has with him with white journalist:
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 17, 2025
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy like he did with me ?? Let’s call it like it is the only time he did was when he was making fun of Brian Windhorst who supported him… pic.twitter.com/E04jl4XDze
Unless I’m nuts, Smith contradicted his own argument by pointing out that LeBron has had a public beef with Brian Windhorst. I wanted to find out what other media members James has had issues with over the years, because I couldn’t really find any. A Google search turned up nothing except for a story about LeBron having a media feud with Bill Oram, who is white, from The Oregonian.
If anyone knows of any other LeBron James media feuds over the years, please let me know. It would’ve been nice if Smith offered some context to saying, “You ever seen LeBron go at a white boy,” because it doesn’t seem like James has gone after many people in his 22-year career.
Smith then claimed to have “receipts” against LeBron.
“When I did my monologue for 17-and-a half, 18 minutes the day after he decided to go on Pat McAfee’s show and I said what I said, and meant every syllable of what I said, immediately after, I was informed that ‘we won’t be hearing more from him about me,’” said Smith.
“That’s what I thought. Because I got receipts. I got receipts. Anytime, anywhere, any place.”
I don’t really know what that means, but if you watch the full clip of Smith talking about James, it seems pretty clear, at least to me, what really irked Smith. When James publicly criticized Smith for talking about Bronny, it came on The Pat McAfee Show.
The combination of LeBron going on McAfee, who is both a colleague and competitor, and not First Take, along with James trashing Smith on ESPN, and more specifically on the show that airs right after First Take, appears to be what really sent Smith over the edge for this impartial bystander and media observer.
2. I saw some headlines this morning that said RedZone had added more commercials to Week 7’s show yesterday. Naturally, this led to viewers being very angry. According to Sportico’s Jacob Feldman, instead of the usual four 15-second commercials, there were seven 15-second ads on Sunday. Over seven hours. To reiterate: seven 15-second commercials, which is less than two minutes, over seven hours. Hopefully all of you RedZone viewers out there can handle such a vicious atrocity.
I just rewatched all seven hours of NFL RedZone (at like 10x speed). Here's what I saw:
— ✏️Jacob Feldman (@JacobFeldman4) October 20, 2025
A. 7 15-second ads (one each for DraftKings, Visa, Mercedes, Lowe's, Wingstop, Progressive, and another for DK at the very end of the day)
B. 7 L-Bar ads that take over two edges of the… https://t.co/ITexGcIHdO
3. Everyone’s going gaga over this play from Patrick Mahomes, and I get it. It’s funny, it’s unique and he said the f-word. People love those three things.
But I don’t understand why the Chiefs wouldn’t save this trickery for an important game instead of using it against the trash Raiders. Plus, the commentary from Jim Nantz and Tony Romo was amusing.
Patrick Mahomes on 4th down: “This fu***** never fu***** works.”
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 19, 2025
Tricks the Raiders defense to think he’s not gonna call the play…
Proceeds to snap the ball and get the first down.
Brilliant. pic.twitter.com/brt39TbSja
4. If you have 10 minutes to spare and want to see how the Broncos pulled off that ridiculous comeback against the Giants, here you go. We should all consider ourselves lucky and privileged that we had Kevin Harlan calling this bonkers game.
Here are the final quarter highlights of the insane Broncos comeback vs the Giants: pic.twitter.com/tl2HuZnOby
— The Sports Place (@offsportsplace) October 20, 2025
5. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a school president crowd surf after a win, but it happened on Saturday night when BYU's Shane Reese joined fans who stormed the field after the Cougars beat Utah, 24–21.
BYU President Shane Reese crowd surfing after the win over the University of Utah.
— Ben Criddle (@CriddleBenjamin) October 19, 2025
True leadership right there. pic.twitter.com/tLHSLIRrE4
6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features a conversation with SiriusXM’s Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
The radio Hall of Famer shares his opinions on Major League Baseball’s new television deals, MLB’s decision to carve up their games to as many broadcast services as possible and who he would want as NBC’s lead MLB voice next season. Russo also weighs in on the implementation of the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system for 2026.
Other topics discussed with Russo include Molly Qerim’s departure from First Take, why he isn’t as excited for the Bruce Springsteen biopic as he was for the Bob Dylan movie, interviewing Scottie Scheffler’s father at the Ryder Cup and much more.
Following Russo, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week, I provide an important update on ESPN’s new app, we discuss our dream interviews and reminisce about an old-school 1980s WWF angle.
You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast below or on Apple and Spotify.
You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 72nd birthday to Seinfeld star, Keith Hernandez.
Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on X and Instagram.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen A. Smith Makes Ugly Accusation About LeBron James.
