- Austin Reaves says he had to buy LeBron James Xbox controller as one of his rookie duties on Lakers
- Tristan Thompson says he surprised LeBron James during Lakers workout: ‘I haven’t seen this since Cleveland’
- Draymond Green says the Lakers are a ‘serious threat’ in the Western Conference
- Report: Lakers downgrade D’Angelo Russell’s status for Friday’s matchup vs. Thunder
- Kendrick Perkins rips ‘borderline senior citizen’ Chris Paul for letting Austin Reaves drop 25 points on him
- Anthony Davis issues confident statement on Lakers playoff hopes: ‘You put anybody against us, I like our chances’
- Anthony Davis declares that he and LeBron James have ‘one of the best relationships’ among duos in the NBA
- Former teammate of Kobe and LeBron says Kobe was ‘like Mike’ while LeBron was more ‘happy-go-lucky’
- Report: LeBron James has resumed on-court activity for Lakers
- Monty Williams sounds off on free-throw disparity in Lakers-Suns game
Stephen A. Smith implies that LaMelo Ball should be a bit more respectful of LeBron James
- Updated: March 19, 2021
The other day, Charlotte Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball said that he’s not all that excited about facing LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time on Thursday.
ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith feels that Ball may be disrespecting James a bit and that James should care about what Ball said.
Why LeBron should care about LaMelo's comments. pic.twitter.com/RKaOBCDPXl
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 18, 2021
“Where I say LeBron should be a little turned off by this is the level of deference and respect that you are supposed to be to somebody perceived to be the king, who by the way, is the king right now. He’s the reigning, defending NBA champion,” said Smith.
James may not have won a regular season MVP award in several years, but most still consider him to be the best basketball player in the world at the end of the day.
He’s certainly one of the leading candidates for this season’s MVP award, as he’s averaging 25.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game as he’s keeping the Lakers near the top of the standings even without Anthony Davis.
Ball, meanwhile, is the leading candidate for the Rookie of the Year award. He’s putting up 15.7 points, 5.9 boards and 6.2 dimes a game while making the Hornets a playoff-caliber team.
Ball may not have meant any disrespect by his comments about James, but he may be in for a rude awakening tonight when he realizes that playing the defending champs isn’t just another game.