Stephen A. Smith doesn’t get along with a lot of professional athletes. Now, that might be a matter of pride for a lot of journalists because they often have to say the unpleasant truth, but Stephen A. has often used that excuse to make controversial remarks purely borne out of personal opinion. LeBron James recently confronted him about it on national television and it turns out, back in the day, Carmelo Anthony set the record straight with him as well.
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On his recent appearance on Anthony’s 7PM in Brooklyn podcast, he went deep on a variety of topics, from his expectations for the Knicks this upcoming season to a preview of the incredibly deep Western Conference, to his beef with LeBron.
There was one time during the 2016 Rio Olympics when he and Melo had issues, but it was quickly squashed, which is in stark contrast to his ongoing beef with LeBron James.
“He got me good,” Stephen A. said, about Melo. “I went on national television. It’s rare in the moment that I’ve done this. But he got me, it’s the only argument we ever had, but it wasn’t an argument because I had to shut the hell up because he was right.”
“Something was going on, I forget what the story was, with the Knicks, but [Melo] was in Brazil, at the Olympics. And he was like, ‘The f*** you reporting that for?'” he continued.
“And I was like this, ‘Yo man, I couldn’t reach you.’ He said, ‘What the hell you mean you couldn’t reach me?’ I said, ‘You were in Brazil at the Olympics.’ He said, ‘That didn’t stop you any other time!’ And I said, ‘Daaamn, he got me,’ ’cause it was true,” Stephen A. admitted.
Stephen A. had made the mistake of assuming he wouldn’t be able to get in touch with Melo because he was so busy in South America, and so he hadn’t made any effort at all to confirm his reporting or get a quote. That was the issue, but to his credit, when Melo called him on it he took it like a man and apologized for the mistake. “There was no excuse,” Stephen A. said.
Melo also gave his side of the story, saying, “You gotta think about the time period, though. This was the Phil [Jackson] era, there was a lot going on. There’s a lot of information that’s coming out of the organization. A lot of information that I don’t even know about.”
Even though he was in Rio, Melo tried to stay abreast of what was going on, and so he heard Stephen A.’s (faulty) report. “I catch it over there in Brazil, in Rio, and I hit him. I have my people, I have family, we know each other, so they were like, ‘Yo we gotta get y’all on the phone.’ I said, ‘Man, call that n****, man, that s*** ain’t true.’ Here’s how it went, man.”
Melo and Stephen A. both laughed about the incident, and in the end, it only strengthened their bond since neither one took it too seriously.
The Knicks have their best team since even before Melo was suiting up for them, and Stephen A. said that he expects them to get to the Finals now that the “roadblocks” of Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard have been taken out of their way due to injury.
Melo will certainly be courtside when they make their run, so, let’s just hope Stephen A. calls him before saying something he’ll regret this time.
