Stephen A. Smith is one of the most revered voices in sports media but is known for making a controversial statement every now and then. As of late, he’s been engulfed by the drama surrounding his ‘conversation’ with LeBron James at Crypto.com Arena during a Lakers game. However, that hasn’t discouraged the veteran analyst from speaking his mind about Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers.
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The Clippers have been playing great basketball as of late and are on a four-game winning streak. Their 132-119 win over the #1-seeded Cavaliers last night prompted them to be a topic of discussion on First Take earlier this morning. Monica McNutt praised the impressive nature of their victory and claimed the team has been flying under the radar.
Stephen A. Smith started off by saying, “It wouldn’t bother me at all if James Harden got MVP consideration.” He then went on to heap praise on Tyronn Lue and Jeff Van Gundy for the excellent coaching job they’ve done. As soon as one thought Smith was all in the Clippers’ favor, he dropped the other shoe.
“The reason I’m not sold on the Clippers is because I’m just looking at my watch and I’m just looking at the dates and the calendar and I’m just waiting for Kawhi Leonard to get hurt,” Smith said. He further continued to boldly claim that Leonard wouldn’t be available come playoff time.
Smith brought up the 2023 1st round series against the Suns. Kawhi played beautifully in the first two contests, scoring 38 and 31 points. However, he was ruled out for Game 3 with knee soreness, and subsequentially it was declared that he had a meniscus tear in his right knee.
Despite the actual reason being out there, Smith said, “He looked just fine, and then between one game and the next game. We don’t know whether it was him going to the bathroom hitting Chick-Fil-A. chilling out at some bar hanging out in the house or something.”
It didn’t take long for Smith’s comments to get on X. Listening to Stephen A. Smith talk about waiting for Kawhi to get injured did not sit well with fans. They called out the veteran analyst for his comments.
One fan called it Sick Behavior, writing, “Waiting and praying for an injury to happen is just sick behavior.” At the same time, another user questioned the reason behind Smith’s hatred for the Clippers star, “Why does he hate Kawhi so much?”
Some agreed with what Smith said, but in general, NBA fans disagreed with the way Smith brought up the topic. Granted, Kawhi Leonard has been prone to injury, but waiting for a player to get injured is, for lack of better words, sick behavior indeed.
