Ryan Clark: LeBron James sending wrong message by confronting Stephen A. Smith over Bronny criticism

While the confrontation between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith last week at Crypto.com Arena went viral because of the big names involved, the dynamic that played out is actually very common across sports and media. So common that Smith’s fellow First Take panelist and ESPN star Ryan Clark is experiencing it as well.

According to Smith, the confrontation stemmed from his criticism of James’ son, Bronny, who secured a guaranteed contract alongside his father with the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Selected late in the second round of the NBA Draft, Bronny has split time in the G League and on the NBA roster, where his stints on the court have generated massive intrigue.

Similarly, Clark’s son Jordan just graduated from Notre Dame and is hoping to be selected next month in the NFL Draft. Clark won’t have the chance to play in the NFL alongside Jordan if he is drafted, but Clark also has to navigate his roles as a father and a public sports figure.

This week on The Pivot Podcast, Clark revealed that Jordan was appalled by the incident. That informed Clark’s stance on the situation, which believes comes down to LeBron needing to let Bronny be his own man.

“LeBron did what he needed to do, but what about Bronny James?” Clark questioned. “(Bronny) is more negatively critiqued and analyzed than any player who would be picked in that position who does the job the way that he does it. But he’s also praised more, he’s also been drafted in a place that his resume probably didn’t say he should have been drafted in. He’s also benefited in NIL when he only averaged 4 points per game. He has marketing and commercials and publicity and following and getting paid away from the court … because you’re LeBron James’s son.”

It would be easy to say Clark is just defending Smith, but his point goes deeper. Basically, Clark is showing that James is fine with Bronny benefiting from the positive aspects of being a James and being gifted a chance at an NBA career — but not the negative aspects.

Clark also pointed out that LeBron is taking advantage of his own unique platform to do damage control in a way that other athletes’ fathers cannot.

“How does LeBron running up on Stephen A. help the narrative? It doesn’t. Because the narrative was, ‘he’s there because of you,’” Clark added. “Now all of a sudden, we can’t talk about him either? Now imagine if LaVar Ball runs up on Stephen A., imagine if Tee Morant runs up on Stephen A., how classless we would say they are, how immature we would say they are. LeBron James is a father doing the same thing for a professional basketball player.”

The difficult part of this conversation, as even Smith acknowledged, is that there is nothing inherently wrong about how James is handling it. Most every athlete would make way for their child if they could, and it’s more than understandable to want to defend their family from negativity.

The part that James continues to look past is that he cannot protect Bronny from that scrutiny no matter how hard he tries, and that in many ways he is bringing more of that negativity onto Bronny in the way he has shepherded his career along.

“LeBron James, more than any athlete I’ve ever seen, has shown a poise and composure when people are talking about him negatively,” Clark said. “He’s truly been an example to every athlete in the world who’s harshly critiqued and to his son. But now what you’ve told your son is, even though I wasn’t above reproach, even though no athlete that’s ever played the game was above criticism, you are. And I showed you that by checking somebody because I felt like they talked about you. And that, to me, is where you’ve gotta separate father and you’ve gotta separate teammate.”

Clark has watched his son navigate a high-profile NCAA career and NFL draft prep from afar, difficult as that might be. If James could let go and do the same, Clark believes it would be better for everyone.