Ryan Clark wondered if LeBron James made things worse for Bronny James by confronting Stephen A. Smith.

Last Thursday, LeBron and Stephen A. had a tense encounter at Crypto.com Arena. Smith said on First Take that the Los Angeles Lakers star acted as a father rather than a player when defending his son from criticism.

Clark and his Pivot Podcast co-hosts discussed the incident on Monday’s show. Channing Crowder backed Smith, saying Bronny is “not an NBA player” and only on the Lakers because of LeBron. Fred Taylor said Smith “has a job to do” and feels the NBA rookie isn’t “off limits.”

While Clark understood LeBron protecting his kid, he said the 40-year-old “gotta let Bronny be a man.” The former NFL defensive back said his son, Notre Dame football player Jordan Clark, told him he would “lose my s**t” if he did the same thing as LeBron.

Clark argued that Bronny has received more praise and criticism than any other late second-round pick. The ESPN analyst thinks LeBron will only draw more nepotism accusations by publicly defending his son.\

“How does LeBron running up on Stephen A. help the narrative? It doesn’t,” Clark said, via Awful Announcing. “Because the narrative was, he’s there because of you.

He was drafted in the place he wasn’t supposed to be because of you. Now, all of a sudden, we can’t talk about him either?”

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – FEBRUARY 12: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during a game against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center on February 12, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)

Alex Goodlett/Getty Images

Clark considered how people would perceive the moment if another basketball father acted the same way as LeBron.

“Imagine if LaVar Ball runs up on Stephen A. Imagine if Tee Morant runs up on Stephen A., how classless we would say they are, how immature we would say they are,” Clark continued. “LeBron James is a father doing the same thing for a professional basketball player.”

Clark felt LeBron wanted to make a point publicly by approaching Smith. However, he noted that James didn’t fire back when receiving intense scrutiny from Skip Bayless and other critics throughout his decorated career.

“LeBron James, more than any athlete I’ve ever seen, has shown a poise and composure when people are talking about him negatively. He’s truly been an example to every athlete in the world who’s harshly critiqued [and] to his son,” Clark said.

“But now what you’ve told your son is, even though I wasn’t above reproach, even though no athlete that’s ever played the game was above criticism, you are.

And I showed you that by checking somebody because I felt like they talked about you. And that, to me, is where you’ve got to separate father and you’ve got to separate teammate.”