ESPN may want to rethink their pregame show segments for the NBA playoffs after the backlash they received on Thursday.
ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” was on air 15 minutes before the tipoff for Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
Instead of exclusively talking about arguably the biggest game of the 2024 NBA playoffs so far, the panel of Stephen A. Smith, Malika Andrews, Bob Myers, and Kendrick Perkins were discussing something a little different.
The foursome broke down Smith’s chances in a hypothetical 1-on-1 contest against Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. The Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs weeks ago.
Several fans were in utter disbelief that ESPN would focus on such an irrelevant topic instead of the titanic Nuggets-Timberwolves clash.
Pivotal Game 6 shortly, let’s check in with ESPN: pic.twitter.com/MjSdcDUCtb
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) May 17, 2024
This is embarrassing. 14 minutes until the biggest game of the playoffs and ESPN is taking about whether or not Stephen A. Smith can beat LeBron 1v1. pic.twitter.com/s4JAVY5kej
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) May 17, 2024
The energy on the ESPN set is confused as hell. Kendrick Perkins has his back turned and seems to be actively ignoring Bob Meyers’ story (which is admittedly terrible). They’re still trying to go with this absurd “SAS vs LeBron” hypothetical. It’s a mess.
— Raptors Report (@RapsReport) May 17, 2024
https://twitter.com/YAnunoby/status/1791267333354258448
Smith had already spoken on the topic at length during his appearance on “First Take” earlier in the day. For what it’s worth, Smith stated that he could definitely score a basket against James in a theoretical race to 100 if James spotted him 99 points.
.@stephenasmith says he could score one on LeBron 1v1 😤 pic.twitter.com/FSRYgE1bdN
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 16, 2024
It’s not the first time Smith has conjured up a LeBron segment for a sporting event completely unrelated to the 4-time MVP.
