Stephen A. Smith is standing by his controversial opinion that the Lakers can’t win a championship led by Luka Doncic, Austin Reeves and Walker Kessler, despite accusations from Emmanuel Acho that his comments crossed racial lines.
Stephen A. Smith isn’t backing down after commenting on the Los Angeles Lakers building their team around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler.
On the surface, he sparked heated debates about race, basketball and media narratives. I dare them to call his comments racist.
The ESPN media star has found himself at the center of controversy because he believes the Lakers can’t truly compete for an NBA title following the departure of LeBron James with three white players becoming the team’s most visible stars.
“Where do the Los Angeles Lakers think they’re going with a bunch of white people?” Smith said. “All three of your top players are white? Really? This isn’t golf. This isn’t baseball. Oh my gosh, this isn’t even football. What do you think this is? This is basketball.”
SAS doesn’t stop there.
“When in the history of the NBA have you seen the three best players on a basketball team all being white and that’s going to take you to the promised land? Someone has to speak up, so I’m saying this.”
His comments quickly went viral across sports media and social platforms, so much so that people used the R-word! Television analyst Emmanuel Acho accused Stephen A. of making racist comments. Single word? How could this guy, of all people, be called a racist? ha!
Acho said he “made racist comments” but the SAS would not give him the final say.
“I like Emmanuel Acho and I’m not offended. Everyone is entitled to a different opinion but I was quick to bring up racism, what does that mean? I pride myself on being fair,” Smith said. “If something is racist, I’ll call it that, and if something isn’t, I’ll say countless times, ‘No, that doesn’t apply here.'”
Smith said he had a point, but people were missing the core of what he was saying.
“It’s easy to get caught up in groupthink and what’s popular and what people won’t object to. Dear brother, I think you’re taking the easy way out on this issue.”
That sounds very Trumpian. But let’s hear the rest.
“I said what I said. I said it’s basketball. The history is there. You want to disprove it, be my guest. That’s all I have to say right now.”
The debate comes amid a dramatic offseason for Los Angeles. With LeBron James reportedly gone, the Lakers have restructured their roster around Doncic, while adding center Walker Kessler and continuing to invest heavily in Austin Reeves. The team also brought in Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and Sandro Mamuklashvili in an attempt to create a new contender.
The bigger question is “Where will Big Brown go?”
