Stephen A. Smith had a huge gaffe during his podcast ‘The Stephen A. Smith Show’. Considering that he is a ride-or-die Knicks fan while also being its fierce critic, NBA fandom would expect him to know about every player and roster move cover-by-cover. However, that didn’t turn out to be the case when he praised his favorite squad after their 122-109 win over the Bucks. He credited guard Quentin Grimes for helping the Knicks come on top.
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The New York Knicks did acquire Grimes in a trade during the 2021 draft. But, he is not a Knicks player anymore. On February 8, the Knicks traded him to the Pistons in a deal that helped them land Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks. However, it seems like the ‘First Take’ host forgot that Grimes is no longer part of the squad.
“I’m looking at Grimes, he’s looked good. I’m looking at Isaac Hartenstein as a reserve, gives you activity off the bench. I’m looking at Mitchell Robinson, being here, on the court,” Stephen A. Smith stated on his show.
While Hartenstein and Robinson have been spark plugs for the fourth-placed team in the East, Grimes is no longer with them. In fact, he hasn’t played since March 13. He last played against the Raptors and lodged 5 points and 3 assists. Since then he has been ruled out for the season due to a knee injury. Of course, many NBA fans pounced on the chance to troll the long-time Knicks worshipper.
Stephen A. Smith’s credentials as a ‘Knicks fan’ get questioned
Later, the ESPN commentator did try to correct his mistake on the prompt of his producer. He said, “Oh sorry, I didn’t mean Grimes”. However, it was too late by then and his error had been well-registered by NBA followers.
A fan straight away questioned his self-proclaimed tag of being a “diehard” Knicks fan. The X user sarcastically wrote, ““Die Hard” Knicks fan”.
Meanwhile, another NBA fan pointed out Grimes has been inactive for more than three weeks. The fan also pointed out he is a Pistons player while taking a jab at Stephen A. Smith for being an MVP voter. The commenter wrote, “for reference, Grimes plays for the Detroit Pistons & last played in an NBA game on 3/13. I love learning basketball from MVP voters”
Meanwhile, another commenter pointed out yet another mistake. Smith has called Isaac Hartenstein a bench player, despite him replacing Mitchell Robinson in the starting five for many months. The X user wrote, “he said Hartenstein has been great as a reserve despite him being a starter for the past 5 months”.
Meanwhile, yet another fan discredited the analyst’s status as a Knicks diehard. The commenter wrote, “Example 2 thousand of Stephen A Smith knowing nothing about the New York Knicks. All-time fake fan”.
Thus, his huge blunder put him in the crosshairs of many on social media. This was expected because NBA fans expect those who discuss the game professionally to know better. At any rate, the long-time NBA journalist would be better off avoiding such mistakes.
