A 6-foot-2 Kenny “The Jet” Smith once outdid 6ft 6′ Michael Jordan in a season where “His Airness” was the MVP and Finals MVP

Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley might never accept the fact how decently good Kenny Smith really was, but we have brought some proof of it.

Kenny Smith has been the source of joy for several NBA fans for a long time not just because he is a funny man on arguably the best sports talk show of all (Inside the NBA), but also because he is the one who consistently gets targeted by the two big men of the show.

Over the years both Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal have rigorously trolled the 2x NBA champion point guard, giving us some of the greatest TV moments of all time.

Sometimes 7’0 Shaq does side with “The Jet” to troll 6’6 Barkley but only when the discussion is about the rings. Otherwise, both the Hall of Famers have made the Rockets’ 6ft 2’ legend their bunny throughout their TNT careers.

Why am I calling a non-All-Star a legend, you ask? Because he was the starting point guard of not one, but two championship teams, who occasionally even gave the likes of Michael Jordan a run for their money.

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Kenny Smith once stole a game under the nose of prime Michael Jordan

He started and played almost every game for the Houston Rockets in 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons and averaged over 10.5 points and 4 assists in the two straight championship years. He also shot over three 3-pointers per game in that period and converted close to 40% of them.

Playing in the backcourt for the great Hakeem Olajuwon should be an achievement in itself and should get a little more respect than Kenny gets. But if that is not enough, this game-winning performance of The Jet against His Airness in 1991 where the latter was an MVP as well as the Finals MVP, should make us realize he really was great at his art.

It doesn’t matter that it was a regular season game.

Smith averaged close to a decent 13p/5.5a/2r/1s throughout his 10-year short and sweet NBA career which not only served him with 2 rings but also a seat at Turner Sports’ multiple award-winning shows for more than twice the time of his playing career.

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We were here to just make a case for that man to get more respect than he usually does. He was a big part in realising The Dream’s dream, for that at least, he deserves it, if not for what we just showed you.