Don't Bother Picking a Side in LeBron James vs. Stephen A. Smith Beef

In a battle like the one between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith, where everyone involved seems to be coming out ahead, it's probably best to remain neutral.

That might be the only way to understand what's really going on here.

The blow-by-blow of the NBA's preeminent feud feels necessary before we go any further.

During a March 6 home game against the New York Knicks, James confronted Smith during a timeout. After some performative hesitance, Smith explained on the next day's episode of First Take that James took issue with what Smith had previously said about James' son, Bronny.

Smith, who has spoken into microphones at length about the confrontation several times since, was hung up on James confronting him in a public space.

"LeBron James knows how to get in touch with me if he wanted to," Smith said on First Take. "He never called."

Smith spends hours every day speaking about and criticizing sports figures on various nationally broadcast and syndicated forums. He apparently did not grasp the irony of perhaps the most vocal sports pundit on the planet, a man whose job involves opining about people who are not in the room, wanting to keep things quiet.

James certainly did, though.

“It started off with, ‘I didn’t want to address it,’” James said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show. “‘I wasn’t going to address it. But since the video came out, I feel the need to address it.’ Motherf--ker, are you kidding me? If there was one person that couldn’t wait until the video had dropped so you could address it, it is your ass. Like, seriously?”

James is dead on for calling out Smith, who has capitalized on speaking his way into the discourse to a greater degree than almost anyone, but he's also coming out ahead in the bargain.

James didn't have to go on McAfee's show. He wasn't obligated to address Smith's responses. But James has a new podcast with Steve Nash dropping, so it's certainly not the worst thing that he's in the news a little more prominently than he otherwise would have been.

That we're focused on James' arguments with media members a day after he tipped in a game-winner against the Indiana Pacers says a lot about the media landscape, but it also underscores that James knows how to manipulate it, too.

So what do we do here? Do we score the war of words for one side or the other? Do we align ourselves with a camp? Who's on Team LeBron? What about Team Stephen A.? What do our uniforms look like? Who's bringing snacks?

Choose sides if you like, but understand what we're dealing with.

This is a battle concocted out of almost nothing, sustained by its creators—James and Smith—and capable of living on for as long as its originators want it to. Framed that way, and viewed through the lens of the attention economy, the whole thing is genius.

Smith, sometimes a reporter but mostly a pundit, is actually the subject of the "news" in this instance. He's not breaking a story. He is the story.

That's a perfect set of circumstances for someone whose job consists of being aggrieved, disgusted and otherwise animated—for show—on a daily basis. This thing is a renewable resource he can tap at any time.

Better still, Smith can profess reluctance to discuss it, which will only make people want to hear about it more.

And he's been great at selling that idea, even if it's clear that a broadcaster who didn't exactly bat down the potential of running for president has no issue with being the center of attention.

James may actually be more sincerely reluctant to keep the whole thing going, but he's got it even easier from a public-perception standpoint. No one begrudges a father protecting his son from criticism. The high ground will belong to James as long as he doesn't get too petty.

Even Bronny, who recently set a career high with 17 points for the Lakers and backed it up with 39 more shortly afterward in the G League, is coming out ahead. He's playing great just as his name is trending again.

Lament the circumstances all you want. This is reality. If you have some perspective, this whole exchange isn't bothering you and might not even be on your radar.

But for most of us, especially those whose media and news consumption skews unhealthily toward trivialities like sports and entertainment, we have to talk about this because it's being talked about.

That's a tautology, folks, and we're trapped in it. I'm not sure any of the rest of us are better for living in a feedback loop, but James and Smith certainly are.