There is a lot of political unrest in the United States right now following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Anti-police brutality and anti-racial injustice protests have been going on all throughout the United States and many athletes have been vocal about what is happening throughout the nation. LeBron James has always strived to be at the forefront of many of these political discussions and with Floyd it has been no exception.
Today on ESPN's First Take, Stephen A. Smith spoke in favor of LeBron James and defended him from all of the people out there urging him to "shut up and dribble." As Smith noted, LeBron has one of the biggest platforms in the entire world and he is right to use it however he pleases. Not to mention, Smith sees LeBron as a role model who has done little wrong throughout his 17-year career.
Smith thinks it's great when athletes speak out and he himself has always been a supporter of political causes. Throughout this moment in history, Smith has spoken out against police brutality and is letting it be known that cops need to be disciplined for getting out of line with the good people of this country.
Smith and LeBron are both using their platforms for good which means it shouldn't be surprising that they are supportive of each other. Hopefully, their message is able to make a real difference.
Stephen A. Smith Rips Drew Brees For "Ignorant" Statement
Stephen A. Smith was disappointed with how Drew Brees answered a question on peaceful protests.
Drew Brees has come under fire over the past 24 hours thanks to his stance on peaceful protests in the United States. While speaking on the current state of the country, Brees expressed support for police brutality protesters but claimed that kneeling during the anthem is still unacceptable because it is disrespectful to the flag, anthem, and even the troops. People felt as though these comments were a slap in the face of Colin Kaepernick and many of Brees' teammates were quick to call him out for being wrong about the topic.
Today on First Take, Stephen A. Smith was particularly disappointed in Brees especially as someone who has supported the Saints over the years. Smith felt as though Brees was being very ignorant and given his status in the New Orleans community, he should know better when it comes to the lived experiences of black people.
Smith's co-hosts agreed with his assessment and also expressed some disappointment in what Brees had to say. The Saints QB was able to redeem himself though as he issued an apology and noted that he hoped to learn from some of his teammates in the future.
Let us know what you thought of Brees' remarks, in the comments below.
Charlamagne & Stephen A. Smith Express Anger Over Police Brutality
Charlamagne Tha God joined the “First Take” crew to discuss what happened over the weekend.
Following the death of George Floyd, there have been numerous protests throughout the streets of America. These protests have been met by resistance from local authorities who have been escalating the situation with aggressive forms of crowd control. At the end of the day, it is clear that the American people want a change and that they want the police to treat everyone like human beings, regardless of race. It’s been an issue that has plagued the country for far too long and the people are standing up about it.
Today on ESPN’s First Take, Charlamagne Tha God joined Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman for an in-depth conversation on everything that has happened over the past few days and what needs to happen, moving forward. As Smith explained, police brutality has become all too common in society, and that acts committed by cops that result in the deaths of African Americans should be considered as “hate crimes.”
Charlamagne and Max Kellerman were in full agreement with those sentiments, with Kellerman noting that America probably wishes they had listened to Colin Kaepernick sooner as it would have decreased the need for such widespread protesting.
First Take has always been known for having powerful debates about race and politics so it was refreshing to see Charlamagne in the mix as well. Regardless of how you feel about these three men, you can’t help but acknowledge how right they are about a change being needed.
Stephen A. Smith Suggests Interesting NBA Playoff Format Change
Stephen A. Smith makes the argument for an NCAA-style tournament for the NBA playoffs.
Ever since March 11th, we have been without NBA basketball. Of course, the league infamously shut down due to Rudy Gobert getting infected with the Coronavirus. Since then, over a million people in the United States have been infected with the virus and the NBA is still looking at ways that it can safely return to action. While it may not be coming back right away, there have been reports suggesting that we could see the return of basketball as soon as July 15th.
As far as the playoffs are concerned, there doesn't seem to be a concrete plan in place. Stephen A. Smith took to First Take this morning with an interesting idea in which he suggested the NBA go for the NCAA route. Essentially, since the league will only be playing in one or two cities, they should eliminate conferences and instead have the first seed play the 16th seed.
Smith makes the argument that the NBA has wanted to do this for a while but never followed through because of travel concerns. However, if the league were to play in a bubble city, they wouldn't be able to use such an excuse.
While this is a great idea, it might be hard for some teams to buy into it right away. At the end of the day, the rules upon return are up to the teams and if they don't sign off on it, we won't have any basketball.
Let us know in the comments below what you think about this potential plan.
Stephen A. Smith Offers Anthony Davis Lakers Hot Take
Stephen A. Smith isn't a big believer in Anthony Davis on his own.
Ever since Anthony Davis got to the Los Angeles Lakers, they have been a much better team. Of course, the year before, the Lakers missed out on the playoffs due to numerous injuries and some lackluster play from a brigade of young stars who just weren't meant for the bright lights of L.A. With that being said, this new Lakers team is incredibly fun to watch and LeBron James and AD are the new NBA power duo.
While Davis is arguably the best player on the team this season, Stephen A. Smith had a hot take on where the Lakers would be if Davis was steering the ship and LeBron wasn't there. As he explains, the Lakers would simply be like the Pelicans, except with different jerseys.
This is a pretty harsh claim especially when you think about how lackluster the Pelicans have truly been over the last few years. They rarely made it to the postseason and when they did, it usually resulted in an early exit. While Davis was the star of those teams, he wasn't always given the best talent around him. Surely, he could do much more with a Lakers team built around him.
Regardless, this debate is sort of a waste especially since they have LeBron right now. With this in mind, we should all just appreciate the greatness on display.
Stephen A. Smith Gives Top 5 People MJ Should Be Thankful For
Stephen A. Smith has an interesting take on who Michael Jordan should be thanking for his career.
Stephen A. Smith is easily one of the most opinionated men in all of sports media and every so often, he comes through with some opinions that leave fans scratching their heads. Most recently, he went on First Take and gave a list of five people that Michael Jordan should be thankful for. You would think that most of these people would have to do with the Chicago Bulls but as it turns out, the list is actually quite the mixed bag and can be made open for debate.
As you can see from the clip below, it starts out with Smith ranking Phil Jackson fifth, Isiah Thomas fourth, Scottie Pippen third, Magic Johnson second, and David Falk first. All of these choices were backed up by some sound reasoning although you can't help but feel like maybe Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson should be above guys like Thomas and Johnson.
It's impossible to accomplish anything all on your own and Jordan wasn't the exception to that rule. He had plenty of great partners and rivals over the years and those listed by Smith are all great options.
Fans might be particularly surprised by Falk's inclusion here but he is the man behind Jordan's Nike deal which has brought in billions of dollars over the years. Clearly, Falk is the unsung hero of Jordan's career.
Stephen A. Smith Doesn’t Care If The NBA Is Bad When It Returns
Stephen A. Smith just wants basketball back like the rest of us.
Ever since March 11th, we have been without NBA basketball or any kind of sports. It's been a long two months and sports fans are itching to get some new games to watch. Even if the league has to continue without fans, all we want is for some games and the conclusion of the 2019-20 season.
ESPN has tried to give sports fans some content in the interim, including "The Last Dance" and a H-O-R-S-E competition which wasn't very fun if we're being honest. Some think the NBA will actually be pretty sloppy when it comes back and that the quality of competition will be fairly low. However, as Stephen A. Smith noted on First Take today, he really couldn't care less.
Smith delved into a hilarious rant in which he said that sports fans will take whatever they can get right now and that the H-O-R-S-E competition was further proof of what sports fans will go through just to get a taste of athletics. Needless to say, it doesn't matter if NBA players start shooting 10 percent from the field, as long as they are on the court competing, we will watch it.
Hopefully, the NBA is able to come up with a plan sooner, rather than later.
Stephen A. Smith Blasts Cowboys For Andy Dalton Signing
Stephen A. Smith is always harsh when it comes to the Cowboys.
There is truly no NFL team that Stephen A. Smith hates more than the Dallas Cowboys and when they make a decision he disagrees with, he makes sure to let the franchise know. Recently, the Cowboys shocked the football world as they signed Andy Dalton to a one-year deal where he will presumably be the backup to none other than Dak Prescott. This signing would seem pretty innocent if it weren't for the fact that Prescott in the midst of some pretty contentious contract negotiations with Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones.
Today, Smith weighed in on the decision on First Take and he completely ripped into the Cowboys, as expected. Smith believes the Cowboys are sending the wrong message to Prescott and that if they're not careful, the QB's relationship with the team could be damaged moving forward.
Smith also noted that Prescott has done a lot for the Cowboys and even supported Jones in regards to the Colin Kaepernick anthem situation. In fact, Smith insinuated that race could be a factor as he believes the Cowboys would have given Prescott a blank check if he were someone like Tony Romo.
The Cowboys and Prescott still have a lot of ground to make up here and if negotiations last well into training camp, we could see Dalton become the Cowboys starter on a temporary basis.
Lil Wayne Announces Young Money Radio Guests: DJ Khaled & Stephen A. Smith
Lil Wayne will be joined by DJ Khaled, Stephen A. Smith, and others on the new episode of Young Money Radio.
Last week, we witnessed the premiere of Lil Wayne‘s new show Young Money Radio on Apple Music. He ended up previewing new music with Tory Lanez, Jessie Reyez, and more during the episode, promising more shows to come. It turns out that we didn’t have to wait too long for the next installment because, this morning, Wayne announced that he would be back tonight.
Episode 2 of Young Money Radio will officially go live at 7 PM EST and already, Lil Wayne has announced a couple of special guests for the menu.
“We back at it again TONIGHT with Episode 2,” wrote Tunechi on social media before revealing some of his friends for this go-around.
“This should be interesting… Stephen A Smith on Young Money Radio. Who’s right ??,” said the rapper. Having Stephen A. Smith on the show, one of the most opinionated sports commentators, will surely get pretty interesting. Lil Wayne is a big basketball and football fan so we’re sure their talk will be worthwhile.
He didn’t stop there though. Weezy F also called on one of his musical friends to join him.
“Another one !! Another kollab you don’t want to miss with my brother, @djkhaled , on Young Money Radio TONIGHT,” said Wayne, revealing that DJ Khaled would also be featured in the new episode. From the sounds of it, there may be a new song on the way between them both!
Tonight’s episode is already shaping up to be special. Will you be tuning in?
Stephen A. Smith Disgusted With Packers For Aaron Rodgers Slight
The Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers' replacement in the first round last night.
Aaron Rodgers has been a legendary quarterback for the Green Bay Packers over the last decade and while he only has one Super Bowl, there is no denying that he is one of the best QBs in the history of the game. Unfortunately, Rodgers' struggles in the postseason aren't exactly his fault. It is mostly because he has been given horrible defenses and very few weapons on offense.
Last night, the Packers had an opportunity to draft Rodgers a QB in the first round of the NFL draft. Instead, they drafted his future replacement, Jordan Love. Packers fans were livid with the move, including Stephen A. Smith who had a lot to say about the matter on First Take. In fact, Smith thinks Rodgers should be asking for a trade, immediately.
"He should feel disgusted. He should feel insulted. And as far as I'm concerned, if I was Aaron Rodgers I'd ask to be traded," Smith said.
After 15 years in Green Bay, it would certainly be hard for Rodgers to work up the courage to ask for something so bold. He is a minority owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and has a lot invested in the state of Wisconsin.
Regardless, it's now clear that the Packers are already looking towards the future. If you're Aaron Rodgers, you can't help but be slightly offended.