After roasting Zion Williamson this week, Stephen A. Smith is getting roasted right back.
The New Orleans Pelicans star Williamson made some comments earlier in the week disputing a popular narrative about him. Williamson slammed his critics for claiming he doesn’t care about basketball (see his full remarks here).
In response on Tuesday morning, the ESPN personality Smith went in on Williamson. Smith ripped Williamson for supposedly being a “food addict” and pinpointed that as the alleged source of Williamson’s problems instead.
"You got people that are alcoholics, you got people that are drug addicts and stuff like that. What was Zion’s problem? Food! Food addict!" – Stephen A. Smith responds to Zion Williamson pic.twitter.com/5TdvA4FZPR
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 3, 2026
That led to a ruthless reponse from the Pelicans’ official X page. The Pelicans posted a curated video montage of Smith being absolutely awful at sports over the years. They also included the caption, “Stick to solitaire Stephen” (referencing Smith’s infamous solitaire scandal from last year’s NBA Finals).
Stick to solitaire Stephen pic.twitter.com/1hBtJThJdx
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 3, 2026
Smith then retorted by claiming that those videos were many decades old and added that he would now be roasting the Pelicans on the next morning’s edition of “First Take.” The Pelicans then fired back with a GIF image of Max Kellerman, Smith’s former ESPN co-host whom Smith forced off “First Take,” seemingly for being too good at debating him.
https://t.co/Rgq8Y1zJv5 pic.twitter.com/ShVwloRERf
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 3, 2026
While the oft-injured and oft-out-of-shape Williamson is regularly targeted by critics, there is some history here with Smith in particular. Back in 2024, the Pelicans already had a nearly-identical feud with Smith over Smith’s opinions about Williamson.
