They say time heals all wounds, but that clearly isn't the case when it comes to the relationship between Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James.
Smith appeared on this week's episode of Gilbert Arena's Gil's Arena podcast to talk his career, the current state of the NBA and the current standing of his relationship with James.
Smith certainly didn't mince words, saying, "There’s no situation and there’s no relationship. He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him. There’s nobody that can mediate. It’s ok. I will tell you that what I won’t do is spend time, when I, I don’t talk about him unless I’m asked."
He continued, "Now some people say ‘Well why do you talk about him?’ Because I was asked, and this is what I do for a living, so how the hell am I going to get away with saying ‘No comment?’ That doesn’t work coming from Stephen A. It might work coming from somebody else, it doesn’t work coming from me."
Smith went on, "But I have no desire to talk about him at all. He is, in my mind, the second greatest player in the history of basketball. His respect has been earned, not given and nobody can deny that. But that’s the basketball player, not the man— and all I would say is people don’t know the things that have happened behind the scenes."
Smith then talked about an incident during last season when James confronted him on the sidelines of an NBA game in a heated moment. It was later reported James was upset about comments Smith had made about James' son, Bronny. The clip of the two exchanging words went viral, with both later sharing their side of how things went down in separate interviews.
Smith finished his thoughts on James by saying, "If I never ever speak to him again in life, that would be OK—and I’m good with it."