Stephen A. Smith refuses to take his L on the Lonzo Ball front.
The top ESPN personality Smith got caught with his hand in the cookie jar this week after sharing a curious report about the Chicago Bulls guard Ball. Amid the news that Ball is set to miss a second consecutive season due to persistent left knee issues, Smith claimed that Ball was having difficulty getting up from a seated position due to his troublesome knee.
That led to a hilarious video response from Ball, who showed himself effortlessly getting up and down from a chair multiple times while putting all his weight on his left knee to boot. Ball called Smith out by saying, “Who are your sources, man?” You can watch the priceless video from Ball here.
On Wednesday’s episode of “First Take” though, Smith showed absolutely zero contrition. Smith responded by saying that Ball still couldn’t run up the court for 30-35 minutes per night. He then launched into a lengthy rant on how many games Ball had missed in his NBA career. Take a look at Smith’s full response below.
Stephen A. Smith responds to Lonzo Ball asking who his sources are 👀
“Bro, you ain’t healthy.” pic.twitter.com/BdCdiimVF4
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) August 23, 2023
No matter how much Smith yells and screams though, he is not making himself look any better. While it is true that Ball’s knee is still an enormous problem that continues to prevent him from fulfilling his duties as an NBA player, Smith is simply moving the goalposts here. It is all an attempt to distract from the fact that Smith’s original claim about Ball’s difficulties getting up from a seated position was horrifically wrong.
Of course, Smith plays a character on television, and part of that character is never admitting defeat (no matter how absolutely ridiculous you look). Still though, this isn’t even the first time this week that a star athlete has called out Smith for sharing bad info on the air.
