During Friday's episode of First Take, Stephen A. Smith shed light on the role LeBron James played in meetings with his fellow players on Wednesday evening and the owners on Thursday.

"To call him a leader at this particular moment in time, that would not apply," said Smith. "When you talk to people inside the bubble, let me tell you what I heard. I heard, first of all, he was speaking out of pocket and was talking to the players in a fashion that really turned some of these young cats off. This is a new day. This is a new generation. As we have said on previous shows when cats were out in the streets protesting and things of that nature, just talking about the younger generation, they're not having it anymore. Well, guess what, the younger generation of players were not having what they were hearing from LeBron James because of the fashion in which he spoke to them.

"So when he stormed out of there, I was told it was in part because of that. And he sort of came off like 'I got mine, I don't need this.' And he walked out.

"Now, we later learned the Lakers and the Clippers were the two teams who did not want to participate."

The Lakers and Clippers decided on Thursday morning that they would continue with the playoffs, and that led to a call between two player representatives of each team, the NBPA, Adam Silver, Michael Jordan and a governor from each team still in the playoffs. Smith was told, however, the Lakers had four representatives on the call.

"When everyone thought the meeting was over, LeBron James grabs the mic, and from what I'm told talks for about 15 minutes," said Smith. "And he's talking for about 15 minutes in a fashion that turned everybody off because they had already agreed to what they were going to do moving forward. And he was talking about 'The guys beneath me. I have to look out for the guys beneath me.'

"To the point where you had people saying 'What the hell you mean...beneath you?'

"They didn't say that to him, but they certainly said it to people like myself, Woj and others that were covering the meeting. He came across as if he was the king with some crown and what have you, and it was a real, real turnoff. 

"Why is this relevant, ladies and gentleman? It is relevant because you're trying to galvanize folks with your More Than A Vote movement. This is the same LeBron James who has that excellent show executive produced by himself and my man Maverick Carter on The Shop on HBO. Remember, you're talking during that show, you want to be an owner. Well, you already alienated owners when you departed from Cleveland to go [to the Heat] the first time. You obviously were on the verge of alienating owners this time around. And this is a good old boys club. They don't have to let you in as an owner, which is what he ultimately wants."

Smith pointed out how Larry Ellison has tried to purchase an NBA team for years, but the league and owners have so far not let him do so.

"So for LeBron to have these aspirations but really turning people off the way that he has, some of the players, executives, owners...LeBron James needs to be careful. He usually sees the forest for the trees. Over the last two days, that was not the case. He turned a lot of people off by how he tried to come across as if he were big time. He needs to be careful about that, from what I've been told by numerous people that were present."

Smith indicated that the message James conveyed was wanting to put pressure on the owners, but they had already agreed to help the players as he spoke last.

"A lot of people are talking about it in Orlando because of how he came across. He did not look good."

While LeBron James was one of the players who advocated most strongly for resuming play ever since the season was suspended on March 11th, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports that his peers began to see a shift in his position during Wednesday's meeting about their strike. James was prepared to go with whatever the majority decided.

During the meeting, Udonis Haslem pressed James on what he planned to do with the reminder that he's the face of the NBA and it goes as he goes.

James then said, “We’re out,” and walked out with almost all of his teammates following behind, sources said, with Dwight Howard the only member of the Los Angeles Lakers remaining. The Los Angeles Clippers walked out as well.

On Thursday morning when the players were scheduled to meet reconvene at 11:00 AM ET, sources say the Lakers arrived 45 minutes late. Members of the executive committee reached out to James and Lou Williams to see where their teams stood and they confirmed they were ready to continue.

But while James had told other players he was in, it would be dependent on how the players' meeting went with owners. James, who was stern in calling on owners to do more in advocating for the Black community and to use their resources to combat systemic racism, was prepared to reverse course if the meeting didn't go well. 

Sources told Haynes that James felt comfortable with the promises made by NBA owners to work on real action items that would support the Black community. 

Jared Kushner, who is a White House senior advisor and close personal friend of Adam Silver, spoke about the decision from NBA players to go on strike to protest the police killing of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. Kushner's brother, Joshua Kushner, is also a minority shareholder of the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Look, I think that the NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially,” Kushner said. “So they have that luxury, which is great.”

Kushner added: “Look, I think with the NBA, there’s a lot of activism, and I think that they’ve put a lot of slogans out. But I think what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that’s going to solve the problem.”

Later Thursday morning, Kushner told Politico that while “it’s nice” to see the players speaking out, “I’d like to see them start moving into concrete solutions that are productive.”

Kushner was then reminded how LeBron James has made significant contributions beyond protesting, such as starting a school for at-risk kids and organizing a voter rights group.

“If LeBron James reached out to the White House, or we could reach out to him, we’re happy to talk with him and say, ‘Look, let’s both agree on what we want to accomplish and let’s come up with a common pathway to get there,’” Kushner said.

Kushner told Politico that he has not yet contacted James, but added, “I’ll reach out to him today.”

LeBron James changed his position from Wednesday evening during a league-wide meeting of players in which he advocated for the cancelation of the season.

James, among others, relayed that is was in their collective best interest to finish the season.

LeBron James left an impression during a players' meeting on Wednesday night that he prefers to end the NBA season, league sources told Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports.

Kawhi Leonard also was supportive of walking out of the bubble and returning home.

Lakers and Clippers players voted to end the NBA season during the three-hour meeting. 

Players are set to meet against at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

The meeting also featured tense moments, with Patrick Beverley calling out union leadership for a lack of transparency.

Players were also reportedly frustrated that the Bucks walked out of their game on Wednesday without informing the union or the Magic. Union leadership would have preferred to release a joint statement saying that both teams decided not to play. 

The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers have decided to go on strike for Game 5 Wednesday evening.

The Milwaukee Bucks initially made a decision not play in their Game 5 against the Orlando Magic.

The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have already decided to go on strike for their Game 5.

LeBron James made a statement on Twitter in support of protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

James' Tweet came minutes after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott Game 5.

The Los Angeles Lakers are scheduled to play the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5 later on Wednesday.

FUCK THIS MAN!!!! WE DEMAND CHANGE. SICK OF IT

— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 26, 2020

Terry Stotts said that the free throw differential between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers, particularly in the first half, had an impact in his team's 116-108 loss in game 3.

The Lakers had a 31-8 free throw advantage in the first half.

The Lakers now lead the series 2-1.

"As far as the free throw differential, particularly at halftime, I don't know if I've ever been in a game where it was that big. And certainly it had an impact on the first half, when I think the differential was 23. That had an impact on the game," said Stotts.

The Lakers shot 24 more free throws than the Blazers, making it their largest margin in a playoff game since 2008. 

The Lakers went 28-of-43 from the line. The 15 misses represented the most missed free throws in a playoff win since 2015.

Damian Lillard added that the Lakers imposed their aggression on the game. 

"The discrepancy in free throws is something that's out of our control. Last game, we came out, [and] they played a really physical game. They played a really aggressive game. That led to a blowout victory for them. ... When a team is living at the free throw line like they did tonight as a team, it's going to be hard to win a game against a team that's as good as they are."

Rajon Rondo has been upgraded to questionable for Game 2 of the Los Angeles Lakers' first round series against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Rondo has been out for the past 5½ weeks with a fractured thumb on his right hand.

"Rondo is working really hard to get back and we'll have him back when he's ready, not before," Frank Vogel said after practice Wednesday. "We're going to list him as questionable, which by definition means 50-50."

The Lakers' offense has struggled since the restart, which Rondo could help turn around.

"Anytime you have somebody who has the ability to create like Rondo does, that helps your offense," he said. "Certainly Rondo would help everything we do."

LeBron James alluded to issues going on behind the scenes and was asked to clarify that comment and he insisted it has nothing to do with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It has nothing to do with our team," said James to Chris Haynes. "One thing about our team is we have zero lack of team chemistry and camaraderie. That's the one thing our team will always strive (for) and always be about. It's a little bit more intricate than that. I might tell you when the cameras ain't on. 

"It has nothing to do with the Lakers and our group. Our group is probably as close as ever because of the situation. Lake Show, Laker Nation, don't worry about that. It has nothing to do with the ballclub. 

In early August, James talked about how they were looking for a rhythm on offense and then alluded to the off the floor stuff. 

“It’s just some things that you can’t control that’s here, that I really don’t want to talk about, that’s off the floor,” said James.