Stephen A. Smith is back from a brief vacation from his radio show, and, boy, is he back. With a claim from some anonymous sources that LeBron James would be tempted to beat Kyrie Irving’s ass were they in the same room.




Smith dropped this particular tidbit at about the 20-minute mark on his radio show, which can be found here. He first claims that Irving has been “salty” for a while now because of having to share the spotlight with, uh, the best player in basketball. Then he offers this about the current state of the relationship, given Irving’s recent reported trade request: “I’ve had sources in LeBron James’ camp literally tell me, and I’m quoting—I’m quoting, Charles!—if Kyrie Irving was in front of LeBron James right now, LeBron James would be tempted, quote, to beat his ass, end quote.”

(Charles is Charles from Cali, who called in to the show. He responded to this revelation with something that sounded like, “Mmhm. Ohhhh.”)




But Smith goes on to clarify that the desired ass-beating is reportedly not because of the trade request. It’s because, and I’m quoting—I’m quoting, readers!—“LeBron is upset that Kyrie has made him a subject to be broached with regard to Kyrie’s desire to move out.”

Hm. Okay.

Here’s the clip: