Stephen A. Smith Accuses LeBron James of Blocking His Appearance on ‘The Shop’

*The ongoing feud between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith has reignited after Smith accused James and his business associates of blocking an opportunity for him to appear on The Shop, James’ talk show.

Smith recounted how Maverick Carter and Rich Paul, James’ partners, approached him with an invitation to appear on the show. However, Smith claimed he never heard back after expressing his willingness to appear, stating, “Crickets! Never heard from them since.” Smith believes Carter and Paul would have welcomed him on the show, but the issue was with James himself.

“He [James] didn’t give me the opportunity when The Shop was on HBO, and Mav came up to me, and Rich came up to me, and they said, ‘Yo, we want you on The Shop.’ Hell yeah, we want you on The Shop with LeBron; it’ll be box office. I said, ‘Name the time and place, I’ll show up. I only got one condition: Nothing gets edited out, nothing,” Smith stated on his YouTube podcast, per Essentially Sports.

He added, “…I know Mav would put me on in a heartbeat. Rich Paul and the rest of the crew, all of them, in a heartbeat.”

While Smith continues to voice his frustrations with the NBA star and his son Bronny, James is focused on business. He recently announced that The Shop, a grooming brand launched by his $725 million company, The SpringHill Company, is expanding its distribution to 1,400 CVS Pharmacy locations. The products, which were initially sold at Walmart, now also retail online at CVS for $9.97. The line includes face wash, shave cream, and beard cream.

James took to Instagram to share the exciting news, writing, “Ayyyy!! We’re all over!! #TheShop got you looking and feeling good at CVS now.”  The brand is inspired by the barbershop experience featured on “The Shop,” James’ Emmy-winning talk show.

Meanwhile, Smith remains vocal in his criticism of Lakers stars. On his podcast, he made it clear that he’s uninterested in reconciling with James, saying, “We may never speak in life again. I’m fine with it. I get paid to talk about folks, not to them. I cover the league. You play, I watch, dissect, analyze and broadcast. We ain’t got to communicate.”

“We damn sure don’t have to say hello to each other. We don’t have to do none of that. We don’t get along and there’s a multitude of reasons why. I’ve alluded to some of them, but we know what the biggest reason is,” Smith continued.