LeBron James' interview with Pat McAfee was most direct LeBron we've ever heard

USA Today

26-03-2025

LeBron James' interview with Pat McAfee was most direct LeBron we've ever heard
'Stephen A Smith is on a Taylor Swift tour run right now 😂😂
He completely missed the whole point..
He got personal with it and it's my job to not only protect my own household but also all the players' @KingJames #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/LKKFmvtFWM — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 26, 2025
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here's Prince J. Grimes.
Over the years, LeBron James has developed a bit of a reputation for being passive-aggressive. Whether fair or not, people have taken his cryptic tweets about teammates and sometimes-coded language through press conferences as a sign of how he always communicates.
To his credit, James hasn't really responded to the many public critiques about himself over the years. He seemed to always take stuff in stride while continuing to be one of the greatest basketball players we've seen. However, over the last few months, that's been slowly changing a bit.
From James' pushback against the direction of the NBA -- "it's a lot of [expletive] threes being shot" -- to his confronting Stephen A. Smith over coverage of Bronny James, we've been seeing a more direct LeBron than in years past. That continued Wednesday with his surprise hour-long appearance on the Pat McAfee show.
It's not that we learned much new about James, who's been covered as thoroughly as any athlete over the last 20 years, but it was certainly the most layered we've seen him be in the public eye. He wore his emotions on his sleeve about certain topics in a way we haven't seen before, he was funny, and he was sometimes downright mean. Really, he said some wild things during this convo, and it made for several awkward moments considering at least two of his targets work for the network that broadcasted the interview.
*Note: The video contains NSFW language*
The laugh he let out when McAfee mentioned Smith's name let you know exactly what time James was on, too. "He's on a Taylor Swift tour-run right now," James said of Smith's endless commentary of their confrontation.
"I know he's going to be happy as hell -- he's going to be smiling from ear-to-ear when he hears me talking about him again," James continued after explaining the root of his issue with Smith.
James said of ESPN Insider Brian Windhorst, who wrote two books about James, "This guy says he's like my [expletive] best friend. These guys are just weird."
*Note: The video contains NSFW language*
We thought you and Windy played together in High School @KingJames 😂😂 #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/JQ6aI3KslN — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 26, 2025
I'm sorry, what? What did Brian Windhorst ever do to anyone to deserve that stray. And it didn't end there. He also weighed in on Pat Riley's handling of Jimmy Butler and Heat affairs, and how "The Decision" gave his biggest critics a lane to tarnish his image. He even not-so-subtly accused the NBA of rigging the 2003 draft lottery for him to end up in Cleveland.
"During the lottery drop, Cleveland got the No. 1 pick?," James asked. "I just don't think that was a -- what a coincidence. Let's just keep LeBron home... I understand the assignment guys."
LeBron: 'Listen man…during the lottery…Cleveland got the #1 pick? I just don't think that was 😆 what a coincidence huh? OMG. 'Let's keep LeBron home' You know what? Patrick Ewing to the Knicks, you know, Derrick Rose to the Bulls. Like, I understand the assignment guys…' pic.twitter.com/4jjARDJRbm — New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 26, 2025
James isn't the first person to question the authenticity of his draft, and we can't be sure he has inside information on what actually happened, but the fact he has doubts and we're only just now hearing about it is stunning. Adam Silver and the league office probably weren't too happy to hear that.
This was no doubt James at his most unfiltered, and the biggest question coming out of it is why? Why was he so forthcoming about so many different things? Why on that platform? Why now? Was this all simply to promote his new podcast? Was it to spite Smith on his very own network? Or was this just his latest (and greatest?) attention grab? Whatever the reason, people are eating it up. If his mission was to get us talking, mission completed.
The Mavericks texted FTW their Luka Doncic plans
By now you've surely heard about the group chat involving a bunch of Trump administration top officials and a journalist who wasn't supposed to be there while the group clumsily discussed war plans. Well, FTW's managing editor Charles Curtis let us in on a little chat secret of his own: he was in the group chat when the Mavericks discussed their Luka Doncic trade plans.
"The world found out shortly before 12:15 a.m. Eastern time on February 2 that the Dallas Mavericks were sending Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers.
I, however, knew two hours before the Shams bomb exploded that a trade might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Nico Harrison, the GM of the Mavericks, had texted me the trade plan at 11:44 p.m. The plan included precise information about the trade, the package and timing.
This is going to require some explaining."
Please, go read this hilarious tale of what happened next. You won't regret it.
Shootaround