LeBron James’ former teammate Patrick Beverley reveals receiving profane text from Lakers star about Stephen A. Smith confrontation

LeBron James hasn't played for a couple of days, but he continues to be all over the news, although not for basketball-related reasons.

His now-viral confrontation with ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has been the talk of the hour in the NBA, even much more than the groin injury he sustained during a game against the Celtics on Saturday.

During a timeout, James approached Smith, who was sitting courtside at the Lakers game against the Knicks on Thursday. He reportedly told him to stop talking about his son Bronny, who plays for LA.

Needless to say, a lot of people have had a lot to say about that confrontation, including James' former teammate Patrick Beverley.

On Wednesday, on his podcast, Beverley revealed that he and James had exchanged some profane texts about the situation. He claimed that he wanted to bleep them out to show them, but he chose not to do so (36:35).

When asked about what James said to the journalist, Beverley said:

"The first thing I did after I see it, I text LeBron," Beverley said. "Let me know if you want me to respond about that Stephen A. s**t. Buddy was out of line. Keep being great."

According to Beverley, James' response included a "he is," referring to Smith, along with profane words that Beverley kept private.

"Probably so (Beverley on if LeBron James asked Smith to stop talking about his son). I wanted to bleep out the text messages. Me and Bron, that's big bro. I don't think he gives no f**k because he is LeBron James."

Stephen A. Smith calls out LeBron James' 'weak' move

Stephen A. Smith addressed the situation on ESPN's First Take, his podcast, and in an appearance on Gilbert Arenas' "Gil's Arena" on Tuesday. The renowned pundit, who has had plenty of praise for James in the past, didn't care for the way things happened, and he called it a "weak" move by the four-time NBA champion:

“I thought is was weak, I thought it was some bulls**t. But, in the moment, I knew that I was listening to a father.” Smith said.

Stephen A. said that he would've even flown to Los Angeles to address the issue face-to-face with James if he had told him he wanted to talk to him. He has a friendly relationship with his agent, Rich Paul, and he said James knew how to get in touch with him if he wanted to:

“Rather than come up to me at courtside, all you had to do was say, Yo, I need to see you after the game. You didn’t do that sh*t, you said you f***ing with my son. No, I wasn’t, I was talking about you! It wasn’t about your son.” Smith said.

It all started when Smith pleaded to LeBron James "as a father," to stop exposing Bronny on the court.