"He's Like On A Taylor Swift Tour Run" - LeBron Took A Clean Shot At Stephen A Smith For Going On A Press Tour Immediately After Their Confrontation

Tim Nwachukwu. Getty Images.

If there's one thing the NBA loves, it's drama. On the court, off the court, this is a league that can't seem to go a single day without some sort of drama unfolding. It's part of what makes it such a fun league to follow. If you care about high level basketball, it has that. If you care about off the court beefs? It has that too. 

I'm not sure there's been a more talked about or "viral" beef this season than LeBron vs Stephen A, which of course all went down earlier this month

What came next after this altercation was the most predictable thing of all time. The second this was caught on camera, you knew what Stephen A. would do next. This is what he lives for. A guy like that isn't going to miss his opportunity to milk that beef and all that attention. It's why Stephen A is Stephen A! 

This is why when this topic came up today while LeBron was visiting the Pat McAfee show, it was also not surprising that LeBron dragged him for it

Look, I am in no way in favor of ever siding or sticking up for LeBron. As a Day 1 pure blood LeBron and Lakers hater, it brings me no joy in typing this. But you know what? LeBron is right. Stephen A absolutely went on a media tour after this confrontation and wouldn't shut up about it. Remember, he didn't want to do it, but his hands were tied (wink wink)

Every 5 seconds Stephen A was popping up somewhere talking about it. His podcast, First Take, Gilbert Arena's podcast, Fox News etc

He quite literally immediately went on a press tour about it. So really, is LeBron wrong? Even the part about Stephen A getting excited that LeBron is talking about him again. That's 10000% true. Considering this is what Stephen A is currently doing on First take, it's not a stretch to suggest he's still maybe a little butt hurt about it

Stephen A knows MJ was 0-6 in the playoffs vs Larry Bird correct? Does impede mean something that I'm just not aware of? Not a huge vocabulary guy, but I don't think so. 

We all know what comes next following this LeBron clip that's going viral today. It'll basically just be Round 2 of a Stephen A press tour complaining about it, saying he doesn't do stuff for clips or attention blah blah blah. Nobody ever said these beefs or this drama that we get in the NBA wasn't a little sad, but it sure as hell is entertaining, and frankly, that's all that matters and why stuff like this is never going away. It's why these talk shows exist, it's why Stephen A makes $100M or whatever ESPN pays him, and it's why this will forever be a part of the NBA media whether you like it or not.

So while it pains me to ever side with LeBron on any topic, I do have to tip by cap here. He buried Stephen A in a way where I'm not so sure there's even a comeback, because all of it was true. What's he going to say, he didn't milk that confrontation? He didn't go on a press tour immediately after it happened? We all saw it. It happened. And something tells me the second version is going to be just as sad.