Stephen A. Smith was just asking some questions on Thursday morning's First Take as he surveyed the wreckage the Los Angeles Lakers' season and the advanced age of LeBron James, who has not gotten any younger since his 10th NBA Finals appearance way back in 2020. He wondered if it was possible that James has grown a bit resigned to the fact that his Lakers are done competing for championships

"There can be a situation where 'I'm going to go out there and bust my tail' ... but in the same breath 'I like my life and I'm not looking to walk away and I'm not looking to get traded, so it is what it is."

Jay Wiliams, seated across the desk from Smith, wasn't really on board with this whole thought experiment and let his debate partner know that he was being disrespectful.

You could cut the tension with a knife—but it would have to be a pretty sharp knife because in terms of sports talking shows, this is merely a tiny spark.

Is what Smith suggesting possible? Entirely. Heck, it may even be spot-on. The follow-up question then would naturally be ... so what? The Lakers, by trading for Luka Doncic earlier this year, have announced a passing of the torch. Their future will be built around a player who is much younger than James. It's likely they improve their team significantly in the offseason and enter next year with a shot to compete for a championship.

And even if they don't, isn't it slightly ironic that James would be getting called out for being comfortable where he is when he's taken a tremendous amount of criticism for jumping ship to hunt for championships and getting elbow-deep in front office decisions? One could almost make the argument that the guy can't win no matter what he does.

What's most interesting, though, is the fact that even though James is clearly one of one in the NBA, the situation that Smith is describing—where a player knows they won't be hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy at the end of the year but is content to play hard and see what happens instead of trying to go elsewhere—is entirely common. Couldn't that environment apply to 20-25 teams in the league at any point?

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen A. Smith’s Take on LeBron James Called ‘Disrespectful’ By ESPN Co-Host.

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