Stephen A. Smith is under scrutiny for his professionalism following an incident where he was spotted playing solitaire on his phone during the NBA Finals on Friday night.
The ESPN analyst was captured on camera at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during the game between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, paying more attention to his card game than the live basketball action.
The sports commentator was working for ESPN on the night, meaning he was required to provide analysis before, during and after the game.
One Twitter user @BleedBlue1986 called out Smith by posting a photo of him engrossed in solitaire and questioned his ability to provide informed opinions while seemingly distracted from watching the game: “How can you have all of these opinions while you’re playing solitaire instead of watching the game @stephenasmith?”
It was initially unclear whether the image was genuine or not, despite the photographer – whose name is Kimberly – insisting she took it during the third quarter.
Though after it went viral online, Smith confirmed the picture is real.
He responded on X: ‘Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!’
Stephen A. Smith was caught playing solitaire on his phone during Friday night’s NBA Finals
The ESPN analyst is now facing scrutiny over his professionalism after the photo emerged
After it went viral, Smith confirmed the photo is real and claimed it was taken during a timeout
Yet Kimberly hit back in an instant, shutting down Smith’s claim that it was captured during a timeout.
‘Fool, this was you during game play,’ she replied along with another picture of him tackling the card game. ‘There’s videos. You started this new round during timeouts.’
Footage shared by another user online appears to show Smith playing solitaire while Pacers and Thunders players are very much in action on the court.
The First Take personality also poked fun at the controversy by sharing a mocked-up image of a solitaire game positioned just above coverage of Friday’s Pacers-Thunder matchup.
But NBA fans were far from impressed by his lack of focus on the biggest game of the season so far.
‘That’s embarrassing,’ one user said about Smith’s behavior in Indianapolis.
‘He is a disgrace,’ another fumed.
‘And some of you believe he watches games in his free time from home. He can’t even watch a game 4 NBA finals game in person,’ argued a third. ‘ESPN used to be serious but have become such a gimmick based sports network.’
‘Bro don’t even care about the game,’ wrote a fourth.
While one simply asked: ‘Good god really???’
DailyMail.com also reached out to Smith’s representatives for comment.
But X user @BleedBlue1986, who shared the original photo, rejected Smith’s take on events
In the game itself, the Thunder went on a 12-1 run in the final three minutes of the game to stun the Pacers in a 111-104 come-from-behind victory, which has tied the NBA Finals at two games apiece.
Newly-crowned MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 35 points to lead all scorers, including a 12-for-24 mark from the field.
Smith’s embarrassing moment comes after he ramped up his feud with Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton, who appeared to throw shade at him earlier this week by saying: ‘What do they really know about basketball?’
After responding by calling him ‘ignorant’, the outspoken analyst continued about Haliburton: ‘It just amazes me how cats can be sometimes. Win the damn chip, bro. In the first two games of this NBA final series, you had your moment with 1.3 seconds left. Other than that, you didn’t play well.
‘That ain’t on me. That’s on you, you know. And, oh, by the way, just in case he was talking about me, my brother, I’m not going away. I’m gonna be here for a while. So next year, and the year after that… I’m going to be here, and players far more accomplished and far more superior have made their efforts trying to call me out. How has that worked out?’
