Stephen A. Smith’s ball knowledge continues to deterioriate.
The ESPN personality Smith was roasted on social media Saturday for the embarrassing mistake that he made in a post to his X page. Smith was reacting to Florida’s comeback win over Auburn in the Final Four and shouted out Gators star Walter Clayton Jr.
But in an attempt to give praise to Clayton by comparing him to Detroit Pistons star Cade Cunningham, Smith had a major whiff and referred to Cunningham as “Wade Cunningham.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, just in case you did not know: this brother from @GatorsMBK, his name is Walter Clayton Jr, and he is something special,” Smith wrote. “This brother is the real deal. Reminds me of @DetroitPistons big time guard Wade Cunningham.”
Smith’s post promptly sparked comedy hour on X from users joking about his “Wade Cunningham” mistake.
Wade Cunningham is actually the name of a former professional race car driver, which was one of the other jokes that Smith sparked there.
Clayton, a 22-year-old combo guard who was a First Team All-American this year, came up big for Florida against Auburn, scoring a game-high 34 points on eight three-pointers. As a result, the Gators were able to rally from a nine-point deficit in the second half and clinch a national championship game berth in an electrifying scene.
But in just one post about the game, Smith managed to both divert attention away from Clayton’s big performance and diss the Pistons star Cunningham all at once. The NBA All-Star Cunningham is having a superb year of his own with 25.7 points and 9.2 assists per game to lead Detroit to a remarkable playoff-berth clinching after losing 65-plus games in back-to-back seasons. Nevertheless, he still became the latest NBA casualty of a brutal Smith mistake.
