While speaking about the Los Angeles Lakers veteran LeBron James’ possible retirement, JJ Redick took shots at a fellow sports personality, and Stephen A. Smith was the target on Tuesday.
“Everything he [LeBron James] does is for a reason,” Redick said. “And whether this is to put a little pressure on the Lakers to improve the roster, whether this is to send a subtweet to his teammates – whatever it is, there’s a reason he does this.
“But I believe there’s some earnesty [sic] in these comments. It’s not just for a calculated reason. He’s coming off Year 20, age 38, a long playoff run where he’s had to play a ton of minutes with an injury, and it’s just human nature that you would begin to say, ‘Oh, maybe I’m nearing the end.’”
“Go ahead, Windy,” Smith told Brian Windhorst, another panelist on the show, when Redick was finished. “I mean, I listened to every word JJ just said. I don’t understand much of what he said, but I listened … I didn’t comprehend, I’m sorry.”
“Well, you didn’t play, Stephen A.,” Redick replied. “You didn’t play. You don’t understand athletic mortality. Three games at, wherever, South Dakota, Winston-Salem State doesn’t count.”