Stephen A. Smith has been on a roller coaster when it comes to his recent takes about LeBron James. And Kai Cenat’s First Take guest appearance was another wild ride.
To recap what has happened in just the last week, James initially made a statement in the Lakers locker room after defeating the Timberwolves where he said that no young superstar should want to be the next face of the NBA because there is too much negativity from people who talk about the game on a regular basis.
Smith went on First Take the next day to… basically prove LeBron’s point? He launched into a several minute tirade against James and current NBA superstars for bringing the criticism upon themselves.
But then this week, with James defying all lawys of nature and physics playing at an NBA MVP level in Year 22 in the association, Stephen A. Smith was ready to end the GOAT debate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan because of how impressive LeBron has been this late into his career.
Apparently Kai Cenat didn’t get the memo that SAS waved the white flag on the GOAT debate, because he tore into Smith on Thursday’s episode of First Take for being a LeBron James hater and being “an older generation type of dude.”
Kai Cenat is not a fan of Stephen A. Smith’s LeBron James takes.
“When it comes to LeBron James, you start hating. That’s how I feel. Because I feel like you’re more of an older generation type of dude. You like Michael Jordan, cool… I’m here to say: LeBron’s better than… pic.twitter.com/UUFZqv4V3F
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 6, 2025
“When it comes to LeBron James, you start hating. That’s how I feel. Because I feel like you’re more of an older generation type of dude. You like Michael Jordan, cool. Listen, every time when there’s a debate going on with Michael Jordan and LeBron James you’ve always got something to say about LBJ. I’m here to say LeBron is better than Jordan, I said it,” Cenat said.
The pair then erupted into a LeBron-Jordan debate just 24 hours after Stephen A. Smith supposedly retired it, with SAS calling Kai Cenat a “whippersnapper.” That’ll play well on the campaign trail, for sure. It’s not quite as ironic as the infamous “Tebow free edition” of First Take that mentioned Tim Tebow’s name over 125 times, but it’s close.
When it comes to dissing LeBron James, Stephen A. Smith is certainly far from Skip Bayless in being a constant troll of his. And as far as being an “older generation dude,” Stephen A. also doesn’t go as far as his current First Take colleague Chris Russo in trying to champion the likes of Bob Cousy.
However, Kai Cenat’s appearance does show is that perception is reality when it comes to Stephen A. Smith not giving LeBron James enough credit. And since Bayless is doing who knows what on his podcast with his wife, maybe the LeBron vs Stephen A. narrative will be the one that First Take and ESPN lean into if and when the Los Angeles Lakers make a deep playoff run this year.
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