Earlier, NBA fans used to see players trolling each other during games. It mostly stayed on the court, and it rarely spilled over into the off-court world. But in today’s social media era, the trolling doesn’t stop when the final buzzer sounds.
Sometimes, it’s not even players who are going at each other. But it’s teams and analysts. A perfect example of that happened on Tuesday night, which involved the New Orleans Pelicans’ social media team and Stephen A. Smith.
Pelicans’ Social Media Team Trolled Stephen A. Smith
On Tuesday’s episode of First Take, Smith once again criticized Zion Williamson. He called him a “food addict” while also questioning his discipline and conditioning.
“You got people that are alcoholics, you got people that are drug addicts, and stuff like that. What was Zion’s problem? Food! Food addict!” said Smith during the segment.
This isn’t the first time Smith has called out Williamson over his weight. Over the past few years, the ESPN analyst has repeatedly brought up Williamson’s conditioning struggles.
But the Pelicans’ PR team didn’t stay quiet.
Shortly after the segment aired, the team’s official X account posted a hilarious trolling video aimed directly at Smith. The caption read, “Stick to solitaire, Stephen.” The line was a clear reference to last year’s viral moment when Smith was caught playing solitaire on his phone during an NBA game.
The video itself was even more savage. It was a montage of clips from the past few decades that showed Smith trying to play basketball. He failed miserably in each clip.
In a few clips, he was slipping on the floor. In others, he couldn’t get the ball anywhere near the basket. The edit was sharp, funny, and was clearly designed to hit back at the analyst’s comments.
Stick to solitaire Stephen pic.twitter.com/1hBtJThJdx
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) March 3, 2026
This isn’t even the first time they’ve cooked him. Back in 2024, when Smith hit Williamson with another weight critique, the Pelicans dropped the same fail reel, but captioned “Flock it, Stephen A. Smith highlights.”
The latest post quickly went viral and even caught Smith’s attention. He responded by saying he would give an appropriate reply on the next episode of First Take.
Pulling out stuff from a decade, two decades, three decades ago, ???? No problem. See y’all tomorrow on @FirstTake. Remember one thing: YOU ASKED FOR THiS!!!!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 3, 2026
So, this back-and-forth may not be over yet.
Smith’s recent comments came shortly after Williamson sat down with Malika Andrews for an interview on ESPN. In that conversation, Williamson spoke honestly about the criticism he has faced throughout his career.
“There was a lot of criticism on my weight, my care for the game…I was low. I was really low because I just wanted to play basketball,” Williamson said during the interview.
Up until last season, the narrative around Williamson was not very positive. He was often mocked for his weight and labeled as injury-prone. From the 2019-20 season through 2024-25, he missed 268 NBA games due to injuries or other reasons. Many had started questioning whether he could truly lead a franchise.
But in the 2025 offseason, he stunned the whole NBA world. During the team’s media day, he showed off a noticeable physical transformation after an intense summer conditioning program. It was estimated that he lost nearly 50 pounds.
Currently, Williamson is averaging 21.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. But the Pelicans are struggling at 19-43. So he hasn’t dragged them to the playoffs yet.
Interestingly enough, during a segment of First Take, Smith admitted that part of the reason he mocked Williamson’s weight was that people wanted him to be tough on Williamson.
“I say this respectfully to Zion Williamson, we’re very happy for you. But…nothing was made up. The information that emanated about Zion Williamson, yeah, it came from inside the organization. It came from people even closer than that to Zion Williamson.”
“I’m gonna leave it at that. People who called up and encouraged us to get in his ass because of some of the things that he was doing,” Smith said.
Maybe that constant criticism played a role in pushing Williamson to take his health more seriously. Now, there’s another possibility: if the “negative motivation” worked for Williamson, it might also help the Pelicans perform well on the court.
