Former NBA player went back and forth with Stephen A. Smith during Tuesday's episode of First Take after the host claimed NBA players don't fear LeBron James like they did Michael Jordan. Stephen A's claim that LeBron "has never been feared" came amid a segment addressing the future Hall of Famer's one-game suspension after his hard foul on Isaiah Stewart.
"In all the years I've covered the league, we talk about the Jordan's of the world, the Kobe's of the world, people like that," Smith said. "You saw LeBron when he first came into the league, you saw when they went to the Finals, you saw when he was...taking pictures and playing around and being jovial and all that other stuff. LeBron James is too phenomenal and too great not to be incredibly respected, but in my estimation, from the people that I've spoken to covering the league, [LeBron] has never been feared...With LeBron, you believe you can take him. You believe he can be had."
JJ Redick was shocked by Stephen A's take and questioned if the ESPN personality truly believed his own opinion. JJ asked Stephen A. to name a player who's physically challenged LeBron to which Stephen A. started his response by saying, "If you watched the game," before JJ reminded him of his NBA experience.
"I played against LeBron for 15 years," Redick said. "LeBron has grown up in a completely different world [than what] existed in the '80s and '90s. There was no First Take in the '90s. Could you imagine, in the New York Knicks series, MJ going to Atlantic City the day before the game and coming home at 2 a.m.? Social media, this show, that's all you would talk about for days."
Redick added that today's players fear LeBron albeit in a different way than Michael Jordan instilled fear into his opponents.
"To say that his peers don't fear him, opposing coaches don't fear him, you think people want to go into a playoff series against LeBron," Redick asked. "More than one, find me a player who's attacked LeBron."
