Stephen A. Smith backtracks with apology over false claim about LeBron James' absence at Kobe Bryant’s funeral

On Thursday's installment of "First Take," Stephen A. Smith alleged that LeBron James wasn't in attendance at Kobe Bryant's memorial service, or Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame ceremony.

James, of course, was in fact at the 'Celebration of Life' held for Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, with fans quick to post a clip of Diana Taurasi mentioning James and looking in his direction.

Once the NBA community began to take aim at Smith for not only crossing a line by using Kobe Bryant's death, but also for spreading misinformation, the "First Take" host backtracked.

In a post on X, Smith retracted his statement:

"My apologies and clarification. I misspoke in Hour#1 of @FirstTake today when I intimated that LeBron did not attend Kobe Bryant’s memorial. I corrected myself in Hour#2 when I acknowledged he was indeed in attendance.

"My mistake. Should not have even broached that subject. It was not my main point. I retract NOTHING else that I said. Have a nice day!"

As he mentioned in his post, he circled back around to his comments during the second hour of First Take, where he said that he knew LeBron James was in the building for the memorial service. But he took umbrage with James not appearing on-screen.

Looking at Stephen A. Smith's claim about LeBron James skipping Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame ceremony

As Stephen A. Smith mentioned, LeBron James wasn't at Dwyane Wade's Hall of Fame ceremony. Given that the pair spent several years together in Miami and another 46 games together in Cleveland during the 2017-18 season, one would expect James to attend his former teammate's Hall of Fame ceremony.

As it turns out, however, James had a good reason for skipping the ceremony.

As countless NBA fans were quick to point out, James missed out on the occasion because his son, Bronny James, was fresh off a serious medical emergency weeks prior.

At the time, the James family was shaken up by Bronny's cardiac arrest, which led to a number of doctor's visits to figure out what triggered the cardiac episode.

As it turned out, Bronny was born with a heart defect, which ultimately wound up needing surgery to correct. Given that, instead of flying to celebrate his former teammate, the four-time NBA champ decided to stay close to his family during the Aug. 11/12 Hall of Fame ceremony.