Stephen A. Smith ain’t backing down after his comments about the Los Angeles Lakers building around Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler.
In face, he’s ignited a heated debate over race, basketball and media narratives. Dare I say they are calling his comments racist.
The ESPN media star found himself at the center of controversy after arguing that the Lakers could not realistically compete for an NBA championship with three white players serving as the franchise’s highest-profile stars following LeBron James‘ departure.
“Where the hell the Los Angeles Lakers think they’re going with a bunch of white dudes?” Smith said. “Your three top players are white dudes? Really? This ain’t golf. This ain’t baseball. Hell, it ain’t even soccer. What y’all think this is? This is basketball.”
SAS did not stop there.
“In NBA history, when have you seen your three most prominent players on a basketball team all be white and that takes you to the promised land? Somebody gotta say it so I’m saying it.”
His remarks quickly spread across sports media and social platforms to the point where they used the R-word! Television analyst Emmanuel Acho accused Stephen A. of making a racist statement. Word? How is this dude, of all people, being called racist? HA!
Acho said he was “spewing a racist remark,” but SAS was not gonna give him the last word.
“I like Emmanuel Acho, and I’m not offended. Everybody has a right to disagree, but what do you mean, I’m quick to bring up racism? I pride myself for being fair,” Smith said. “If something is racist, I’ll call it that, and if something is not, there’s countless times where evidence exists where I say, ‘No, that doesn’t apply here.'”
Smith said he made perfect sense, but people did not get to the crux of his statement.
“It’s real easy to jump on groupthink and what’s popular and what people are not gonna push back on. Respectfully, brother, I think you’re taking the easy way out with that one.”
This sounds very Trumpy. But let’s hear the rest.
“I said what I said. I’m talking basketball. The history is there. You wanna refute it, be my guest. It’s all I’ve got to say for now.”
The debate comes during a dramatic offseason for Los Angeles. With LeBron James reportedly moving on, the Lakers have reshaped the roster around Dončić while adding center Walker Kessler and continuing to invest heavily in Austin Reaves. The franchise has also added Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and Sandro Mamukelashvili as it attempts to build a new contender.
The bigger question is “Where will Big Bron go?”
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