Stephen A. Smith couldn’t help but praise LeBron James amid the Lakers’ win streak.
During Thursday’s installment of “First Take,” the ESPN personality — whose feud with James has played out in the public eye — changed his tune on the NBA’s all-time leading scorer and explained that “he has to be applauded” for how he’s playing.
“I think it’s phenomenal. I think there’s no way around it,” Smith said when asked about his take on “this version” of 41-year-old James. “And I think that he has to be applauded for the level of unselfishness.
“Think about the storylines that have surrounded him. Is this his last time in a Laker uniform? The Lakers, with [point guard] Luka Doncic, clearly having moved on — do they even want LeBron James? Should he want to be there?
“What legitimacy is there to, you know, his championship aspirations if he stays in LA? Doesn’t he need to depart from Cleveland?
James helped bring a championship to Cleveland while with the Cavaliers in 2016, ending a 52-year championship drought in the city.
Smith also commended James for playing complementary to the Lakers’ young guards, Austin Reaves and Doncic.
“He has been an incredible contributor to their winning ways. He has stepped up when he needed to step up,” Smith continued. “… This is one of the guys on the Mount Rushmore of basketball, one of the top 5, 4 players in the history of basketball.
“… All he does is go out there and not just play deferentially to Luka Doncic, he also does so to Austin Reaves … The unselfishness, the leadership you just can’t question it.
Smith and James have been feuding publicly since the four-time NBA champ confronted the “First Take” host face-to-face during a Lakers-Knicks game in Los Angeles last March.
Smith’s remarks this week came after James scored 30 points in 34 minutes of play in the Lakers’ 124-116 win over the Rockets in Houston on Wednesday night.
James notched his second triple-double of the season on the second night of a back-to-back in LA’s 134-126 victory over the Heat on Thursday.
He finished with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in the win, which extended LA’s winning streak to eight.
Doncic scored 60 points against the Heat, and “MVP” chants rang through the Kaseya Center in Miami.
After the game, James reacted to putting up 49 points on 21-for-26 shooting against the Rockets and the Heat.
“It sells papers a lot easier — and clippings and podcasts — if you say, ‘LeBron, the team is better off without him,’” James said. “A lot of people will try to like view it. So, I get it. … They’re absolutely wrong.”
The Lakers (45-25) are currently sitting in the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.