JJ Redick Roasts Stephen A. Smith Over LeBron James Retirement News, Later Apologises

On ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday morning, things got heated as JJ Redick and Stephen A. Smith exchanged jabs about LeBron James’ impending retirement.

James’s suggestion of retirement has sparked debate about whether he is acting dishonestly by trying to use the threat of retirement to influence which players he wants to surround him going forward. Redick took a shot at Smith while pointing out that James’s remarks were probably “calculated,” but he also mentioned the physical strain James’s body had endured during his career.

JJ Redick Roasts Stephen A. Smith Over LeBron James Retirement News, Later Apologises

Redick can relate since he has experience being at the tail end of the line. The former accurate guard did not hold back when Stephen A. shut him down.

“It’s not just for a calculated reason. [James] is coming off year 20, age 38, a long playoff run where he has had to play a ton of minutes with an injury,” Redick said. “It’s just human nature that you would begin to say, ‘maybe I’m nearing the end.’”

“You didn’t play Stephen A. You don’t understand our athletic mortality. three games at, wherever, South Dakota, Winston-Salem State doesn’t count.”

Smith seemed to take it well, saying, “I got a degree and now I’m on TV with you, I must be doing something right.”

Later in the broadcast, Redick did apologize, acknowledging that Smith had gotten “underneath his skin” and asserting that he had no ill will against either Winston-Salem State or Smith.

Later on in the program, Redick said he was sorry for allowing Smith to get under his skin and make him mistake South Dakota for Winston-Salem State, adding, “I did not mean any respect to that University, or to you.” Smith obtained a basketball scholarship to play at Winston-Salem State University in the late 1980s, but his playing career was cut short by a knee injury he sustained in his first season.

 

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