Michael Wilbon Slams ESPN’s Bronny James Coverage, Calling It ‘A Disaster Waiting to Happen’

by Avery TorffMarch 31, 2025, 5:14 pmNews >

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith’s comments about Bronny James have put him at odds with his father, LeBron James.

Though the elder James confronted Smith during the Lakers-Knicks game, they’ve continued to take shots at each other.

Michael Wilbon, Smith’s fellow ESPN personality, slammed the network’s coverage of Bronny, describing it as “a disaster waiting to happen” and revealing that “Pardon the Interruption” purposely avoided covering him on a daily basis.

“And, look, I am a father, too,” Wilbon said. “Let me let you in on some inside baseball, Bobby [Burack]. And you probably know this. But ‘PTI’ did not talk about Bronny. We never did. All the Bronny talk that our network did was pandering. It was for clicks and eyeballs. I refused to participate.

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“You can go back and look, ‘PTI’ didn’t cover him, except for maybe the real news, like the day after he was drafted. Those other shows – it was every day. Bronny. Bronny. Bronny. What the hell is this? It was a disaster waiting to happen.

“I have a 17-year-old son, so this matters to me. I am particularly sensitive to it. I’d do anything for my kid, and I would hug LeBron for what he did for his kid.

“I am a father first. That’s how I see this story—not as a columnist or a talking head–but as a father first. So, I get what LeBron did. And LeBron has also been great to my kid.

“But as far as coverage, no. There were shows that talked about Bronny every day. You know what shows I’m talking about. I don’t care if my bosses get mad. They would try to get Tony [Kornheiser] and me to talk about it. No, we were not going to do it.”

In recent weeks, the younger James has shown significant improvement in the G League, finishing the regular season with averages of 21.9 points, 5.5 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game, while shooting 44.5% from the field and 38% from three.