Rumors

Comedian Kevin Hart and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith are among those who think celebrity Knicks superfan Spike Lee should get a championship ring after the franchise won its first title in 53 years. Hart shouted out Lee in an Instagram video posted on Sunday. “Give Spike a ring,” Hart said of Lee, who has likely paid many millions for tickets over the last 40 years. “Spike deserves a f–kin championship ring, and I’m saying it here. Give Spike a New York Knicks championship ring.”

New York Post

ClutchPoints: Stephen A. Smith: “I owe this man an apology. I am grateful for what you’ve done for this (New York) city… you won’t be hearing any doubts from me anymore my brother.” Jalen Brunson: “We’ll see about that.”

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Smith has spent decades covering the NBA, which has allowed him to forge meaningful relationships with many players. It was through these connections that he got to know some athletes at a much deeper level, leading him to conclude that there are plenty of “Black conservatives” in the league.​ “They may not admit it publicly, but there’s a whole bunch of them,” Smith candidly revealed. “And when we’re talking about certain things — collective bargaining negotiations, player contracts, morals clauses, it could be anything — you hear some of these guys’ views and you’re like, ‘That’s not the typical stuff that you hear.'”

basketballnetwork.net

The GOAT conversation has surfaced yet again after LeBron James told Time magazine, “I’m not taking nobody over me.” When Stephen A. Smith was asked about James’ comments on ESPN’s “First Take,” he didn’t hold back from pointing out that Michael Jordan and other NBA greats would never call themselves the GOAT. “I know Michael Jordan, I speak to him often. I’m telling you, he has never, ever, ever, once called himself the greatest,” Smith said on “First Take.” “It’s never happened. Kobe Bryant didn’t call himself the greatest. Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] didn’t call himself the greatest …” Smith continued to list other former NBA greats and didn’t withhold from taking shots at James when telling the rest of the “First Take” hosts why James would say this.

New York Post

NBA Base: Stephen A. Smith: “There was footage of him on camera not looking awake. Dolan sitting right next to him. Both of them look like they were sleeping. You don't expect to hear that from a president that called his predecessor ‘Sleepy Joe’… I'm telling my producers inside the Garden last night, we were told that he was telling folks he is coming back for Game 4, so we don't know what the hell the truth is. All I'm trying to say is that no president — Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, HW, I don't give a damn if it was Reagan — no sitting president should be at an NBA Finals game at Madison Square Garden.”

x.com

“This president has no business showing up in New York City,” Smith said, adding that the move was “selfish” and “narcissistic.” The longtime broadcaster even joked that he would blame Trump if the Knicks failed to deliver a victory. Trump's response arrived when reporters asked about Smith's comments. Rather than directly addressing the criticism, Trump questioned Smith's qualifications for political leadership. “He's a nice guy, but you need a certain aptitude to run for president,” Trump said. “You need a high IQ, I'm not sure he has that. I don't think he does.”

Clutch Points

HoopsHype: Guess who's one of the players Stephen A. Smith has supported the most with his NBA award votes through the years? Yes, JAYLEN BROWN. Not a big Giannis guy, though.

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Jaylen Brown: "Listen, I'm not even really focused on Stephen A. I'm really focused on the industry that he represents. Obviously I have my quarrels with Stephen A, but I also have my quarrels with the industry in itself. Stephen A is the face of the industry and his willingness to serve his higher ups is a major cause for concern, and it's caused frustration, but it ain't even really about him. So here's my proposal and after this that I'm done."

YouTube

Jaylen Brown: "Stephen A, here's my proposal. Why don't we have a live audience debate, traditional media versus us athletes? And let's do a live debate in front of a live streamed audience at a mutual location like a Harvard or MIT and let's talk about it. Let's see who come out on top. Should be easy. Should be a piece of cake. Mainstream traditional media versus the athlete. Let's set it up. Harvard, MIT, live and let's see who come out on top. You know where to find me. We know where to contact my team. Let's set up a live debate at a mutual location and let's talk about it. Traditional versus untraditional. Mainstream media versus the dumb jock. Let's see who come out on top."

YouTube

Jaylen Brown: "But the fact is that as an athlete, I'm obligated to speak to the media. It's my job. Like he thinks the media is his job, it's my job too. It's in my contract. If I do not speak to the media, then I will be fined. So when they use that comparison where it's my job, it's your job to play basketball. It's also my job to speak to the media. So me, my thought process, how do I work around that? I'm going to do it on my terms. If I got to talk to y'all, I'm going to do it on my terms. If y'all want to hear my takes, this is how y'all going to hear them. Because if I give them these takes to these other media, they going to try to build a narrative against me or turn it into something that I don't even it's get weird, bro. What are y'all talking about? But when they run with this media, then when they run with this narrative, they're going to be like, it's Stephen A's job and it's Kendrick Perkins' job and my job to talk to the media. It ain't your job to be a clown. It ain't."

YouTube

Jaylen Brown on Stephen A. Smith: "This is a narrative that he's creating. This is in journalism. This is him making his own opinion and formulizing it about what I had to say on his platform. And this is why respectfully a lot of people say f**k Stephen A. because this is the type of stuff he does and then he doesn't recognize it. But he's creating a narrative saying that the reason why I'm saying that I had my favorite season is because selfishly I had a best performing year." "Not the fact that we out-proved expectations, not the fact that everybody expected us to be nothing and we had to fight and we showed up and we competed every single day and we had to fight for every victory. Not the joy of watching our teammates grow or not the joy of watching guys who are unproven start to solidify themselves as well through leadership, through chemistry. He maybe doesn't understand that because maybe he's never had to fight for nothing in his life. Maybe anytime adversity has hit, he's rolled over or he's gave in. So he thinks it's the same thing as somebody who has little to no expectation and they stood up and they made a name for themselves. He may not understand that concept and that's why he's pushing his narrative. But once again, this is what Stephen A. is using his platform for."

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On Sunday night, Jaylen Brown took to his FCHWPO Twitch channel to address Smith directly over comments the $40 million talking head made about Brown’s post-Game 7 livestream. And it only took three words to get a feel for where Brown’s response was heading. “F*ck Stephen A,” Brown said during his Twitch stream Sunday night. Smith spoke critically of Brown on ESPN’s “First Take” after Boston surrendered a 3-1 first-round series lead to the Philadelphia 76ers, primarily focusing on the 2024 NBA champion’s comments that the year, despite its finish, was his “favorite.” “This is why, respectfully, a lot of people say, ‘f*ck Stephen A,’” Brown said. “Because this is the type of stuff he does, and then he doesn’t recognize it. But he’s creating a narrative saying that the reason why I’m saying that I had my favorite season is because, selfishly, I had a best-performing year — not the fact that we outproved expectations. Not the fact that everybody expected us to be nothing, and we had to fight, and we showed up, and we competed every single day, and had to fight for every victory.

Celtics Blog

Slime🐍: Celtics star Jaylen Brown goes OFF on Stephen A Smith for questioning why Jayson Tatum wasn’t on his stream and making his own narratives about why the 2025-2026 Celtics season was JB’s favorite 😳👀 “What type of journalism is this?… F*CK Stephen A… My offer still wants. You want me to be quiet and stop streaming? I want you to be quiet and get off these networks. You’re using your platform to do clickbait.”

Twitter

Stephen A. Smith: If he had a problem, all he had to do was get Rich Paul or Maverick, or somebody else, and say, “Stephen A., LeBron is pretty upset. He’s pissed. He wants to see you.” And I would have been on the first plane to L.A. I would have come and seen him. That night, when he rolled up on me, I said, “Yo, man, we can go to the back.” He was like, “Forget that.” I said, “We can go to the back and talk about it after the game. I’ll wait.” And he was like, “No.” I said, “Go ahead, man. All right, man. No problem.” Because I’m not going to make a scene courtside in the middle of the game.

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