ESPN did an entire segment on Stephen A. Smith playing LeBron James 1-on-1 during the pregame show for Game 6 between the Nuggets and T-Wolves

ESPN is getting shredded by NBA fans following last night’s pregame show focused on Stephen A. Smith playing LeBron James 1-on-1 rather than Game 6 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets. 

Last night was the biggest game of the NBA Playoffs so far and instead of talking about it, the panel featuring Stephen A. Smith, Malika Andrews, Bob Myers, and Kendrick Perkins were discussing something else.

Pivotal Game 6 shortly, let’s check in with ESPN: pic.twitter.com/MjSdcDUCtb

— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) May 17, 2024

The crew broke down Smith’s chances in a hypothetical 1-on-1 contest against Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. Why? I have no idea but it appeared to be another bad decision from ESPN because, well, the Lakers were eliminated weeks ago from the playoffs and literally no one cares about Stephen A. Smith playing LeBron 1-on-1.

NBA Fans to Stephen A Smith:

NBA fans were in shocked on social media that ESPN would focus on an irrelevant topic instead of the actual game between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves. Me? Not so much. This was pretty “standard” for ESPN – who at times, literally can’t get out of their own way.

ESPN: Stephen A. Smith vs LeBron James Pregame Show

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

No way ESPN is still talking about would Stephen A score a basket on LeBron.

— Ed Rogers Hate Account (@YAnunoby) May 17, 2024

Just another classic example of television broadcast hosts thinking that people are tuning in to watch them rather than the actual game. Stephen A. Smith wants the lights on him and for whatever reason, was rolling out LeBron James 1-on-1 content instead of focusing on the game that was about to be played. Go figure. 

Smith was already speaking about the exact same topic at length during his appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” earlier in the day. 

Stephen A. Smith spent the entire day talking about it…

.@stephenasmith says he could score one on LeBron 1v1 😤 pic.twitter.com/FSRYgE1bdN

— First Take (@FirstTake) May 16, 2024

Note: Stephen A. Smith thinks he could score a point on LeBron James – which is absolutely insane to even say out loud and another reason why the entire “segment” was completely stupid. 

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