{"id":96148,"date":"2026-03-20T07:55:50","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/stephen-a-smith-puts-beef-with-lebron-james-aside-lauds-him-for-taking-up-new-role-with-lakers\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:55:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:55:50","slug":"stephen-a-smith-puts-beef-with-lebron-james-aside-lauds-him-for-taking-up-new-role-with-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/stephen-a-smith-puts-beef-with-lebron-james-aside-lauds-him-for-taking-up-new-role-with-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith Puts Beef With LeBron James Aside, Lauds Him For Taking Up New Role With Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>LeBron James, the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer, remains an All-Star-caliber player, but his production has decreased in comparison to his usual self. However, the 4 time NBA champion has adapted to a new role with the Los Angeles Lakers, which has led to great praise from experts, including his greatest critic, Stephen A. Smith.<\/p>\n<p>For the majority of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesportsrush.com\/tag\/lebron-james\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:James\u2019;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;James\u2019&quot;}\" class=\"link \">James\u2019<\/a><\/strong> tenure with the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesportsrush.com\/tag\/los-angeles-lakers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Lakers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Lakers&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Lakers<\/a><\/strong>, he has been the face of the franchise and rightfully so. He revitalized the organization during its biggest drought, leading them to a championship in 2020. James was 36-years-old when he did that. He is 41 now!<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers understood they couldn\u2019t task James with such a heavy offensive burden any longer, which fueled their drive to sign Luka Doncic. Last season consisted of ironing out which roles suit the two stars the best. This season, LeBron has willingly stepped into more of a leadership role, which has gained the respect of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thesportsrush.com\/tag\/stephen-a-smith\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Stephen A. Smith;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Stephen A. Smith&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Stephen A. Smith<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThis man has been an exceptional leader, exceptional champion, an exceptional winner, and he\u2019s showing it as we speak,\u201d<\/em> Smith proclaimed on ESPN\u2019s <em>First Take<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"consent\"\/>\n<p>Los Angeles has been playing their best basketball at the season and are peaking at the perfect time. The Lakers are currently on a seven-game win streak and creating separation for the third seed in the West. LA has had plenty of excuses to falter, courtesy of the pressure and outside noise about James and his future with the team. Instead, they have blocked it all out and continued to win.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>*\u201cAll of this noise has been made, and all they\u2019ve been doing is winning. [LeBron] has been an incredible contributor to their winning ways. He has stepped up when he has needed to step up,\u201d* Smith said.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers\u2019 recent victory over the Houston Rockets is the perfect example of James stepping up to the plate emphatically. He put up 30 points on an incredibly efficient 13-14 shooting from the field. His ability to complement the team\u2019s offense, without demanding a high usage rate, has allowed the team to truly flourish offensively.<\/p>\n<p>By no means are the Lakers a perfect team. They still have plenty of flaws. Nonetheless, playing the way they are, championship aspirations don\u2019t seem too distant a dream. James has been crucial to that success and will be if they have any hopes for a deep postseason run.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/thesportsrush.com\/nba-news-stephen-a-smith-puts-beef-with-lebron-james-aside-lauds-him-for-taking-up-new-role-with-lakers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Stephen A. Smith Puts Beef With LeBron James Aside, Lauds Him For Taking Up New Role With Lakers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Stephen A. Smith Puts Beef With LeBron James Aside, Lauds Him For Taking Up New Role With Lakers&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Stephen A. Smith Puts Beef With LeBron James Aside, Lauds Him For Taking Up New Role With Lakers<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/thesportsrush.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:The SportsRush;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;The SportsRush&quot;}\" class=\"link \">The SportsRush<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/stephen-smith-puts-beef-lebron-170703321.html\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\nSee more https:\/\/theglobaltrack.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James, the league\u2019s all-time leading scorer, remains an All-Star-caliber player, but his production has decreased in comparison to his usual self. However, the 4 time NBA champion has adapted to a new role with the Los Angeles Lakers, which has led to great praise from experts, including his greatest critic, Stephen A. Smith. For [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow2JLhCw:productID":"","_gspb_post_css":"","maa_idioma":"","maa_pais":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23358,5303,5282,17220,5302,18089,7103,9181,4479],"class_list":["post-96148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ubirata","tag-beef","tag-james","tag-lakers","tag-lauds","tag-lebron","tag-puts","tag-role","tag-smith","tag-stephen"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stephen A. 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