ESPN analyst Ryan Clark recently shared his thoughts on LeBron James’ confrontation with Stephen A. Smith. The issue began when LeBron defended his son, Bronny James, against Smith’s criticism.
Ryan Clark Says Bronny James Has Received More Love, Money, And Opportunity Because Of LeBron James
LeBron confronted Smith publicly on the basketball court last week. Clark, a father himself, talked about LeBron’s protective instincts, and he noted that Bronny will eventually have to learn to deal with scrutiny as a professional athlete.
Clark posted this message on X:
“I’m not LeBron, but I am a father; & I’m willing to die for mine. I get approaching SAS as a father, but he wasn’t ‘only’ protecting his seed. He was speaking on behalf of another professional athlete who SAS is paid to analyze. Granted, Bronny gets criticized more than any other 55th pick of the draft, but he also gets more love, money, & opportunity than any other too thanks to his father’s greatness. Even Pops on Friday said, ‘let him be a man,’ when Craig fought Debo.
“That’s what Bron has to do. Could you imagine the outrage if Lavar Ball ran up on the Biggest voice in sports? I just don’t think it helped the narrative that Bronny is only there because he’s LeBron James Jr., & now what? He can’t be talked about? Until now Bron was the perfect example of ignore the outside noise. No all time great had been under more fire. Trust me, I get on sight as much as anyone, & hell sometimes you gotta do what you need to do. Still, I wonder if Bron told Bronny he was gonna do this would he have said, “Pops I got this!’”
LeBron’s Talk With Stephen A. Smith Did Nothing To Change The Narrative
Although LeBron’s actions could be viewed as an act of love and protection, critics argue that it might reinforce the perception that Bronny’s success is linked to his father’s influence as an NBA superstar.
Ryan Clark also argued on Monday’s edition of ESPN’s First Take that Bronny has received more praise and criticism than any other late second-round pick. The former NFL safety believes LeBron will only draw more accusations of nepotism by publicly defending his son from sports analysts.
“How does LeBron running up on Stephen A. help the narrative? It doesn’t,” Clark said, via Awful Announcing. “Because the narrative was, he’s there because of you. He was drafted in the place he wasn’t supposed to be because of you. Now, all of a sudden, we can’t talk about him either?”
Bronny has made some progress as a rookie at the NBA level, but he’s still nowhere near as good as what some personalities would have the basketball community believe. The excessive media coverage is part of the problem.
In 18 games off the bench this season with the Lakers, he’s averaging 1.4 points, 0.4 rebounds, 0.4 assists, and 4.2 minutes per contest while shooting 25.8% from the field, 20% from deep, and 66.7% at the foul line.
