ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith caused a media furor with his controversial claims about the Los Angeles Lakers building their team with three white basketball players, Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler, to compete for the NBA championship after LeBron James departed the franchise this week. Former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho blasted Smith for his comments and claimed the latter was “spewing a racist remark.”
Stephen A. Smith Responds to Emmanuel Acho’s Criticism
Smith responded with a fiery clip on his YouTube channel, reacting to Acho’s criticism of his views on the makeup of the Lakers’ roster for next season.
“I like Emmanuel Acho, and I’m not offended. Everybody has a right to disagree, but what do you mean, I’m quick to bring up racism? I pride myself for being fair,” Smith said. “If something is racist, I’ll call it that, and if something is not, there’s countless times where evidence exists where I say, ‘No, that doesn’t apply here.’
“It’s real easy to jump on groupthink and what’s popular and what people are not gonna push back on. Respectfully, brother, I think you’re taking the easy way out with that one.”
Smith then blasted the media for making his comments a bigger deal than they were and doubled down on his assertions about the Lakers’ ability to win a championship.
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“I’m just denigrating a couple of sorry (expletive) that write negative (expletive) all the time and then want to reach out to you for a quote to fill in the gaps to attach credibility to them that they don’t have,” Smith said. “I don’t have time for people like that. It’s all over the place, podcasting, articles, I ain’t got time for all of that.
“Let them get their shine somewhere else. I said what I said. I’m talking basketball. The history is there. You wanna refute it, be my guest. It’s all I’ve got to say for now.”
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After a stellar season, the Lakers started their rebuild by handing Austin Reaves a four-year, $184.76 million max deal. After James’s departure this week, they traded for former Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler and signed him to a four-year, $130 million deal, which will involve giving up unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, and first-round swaps in 2028 and 2030.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka also added Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, and Sandro Mamukelashvili to the roster built around Dončić, who can opt out of his contract after the 2027-2028 season.
