The Los Angeles Lakers‘ three highest-paid players next season — Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler — are Caucasian, which hasn’t sat well with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
Earlier this week, Smith blasted the Lakers for relying on “white dudes” to win an NBA championship.
“Where the hell do the Los Angeles Lakers think they’re going with a bunch of white dudes? Somebody had to say it, so I’m saying it,” Smith said on his podcast.
“This ain’t golf. This ain’t baseball. Hell, it ain’t even soccer. And we got a whole bunch of brothers on Team USA. What y’all think this is? Basketball. This is basketball.”
“You ain’t going anywhere led by three white dudes in today’s generation of basketball. I’m letting you know right now, it ain’t happening,” Smith added. “Luka’s a bad brother. And Austin Reeves is no scrub. And they both have earned what they have earned. And then with LeBron James or some other brothers, I get. But those two and Walker Kessler? You ain’t scaring anybody with that.”
Stephen A. Smith Called ‘A Racist’ for Lakers Rant
Podcaster Emmanuel Acho did not take kindly to Smith’s comments, calling him a “racist” for his remarks about the Lakers.
“If you wanted to say, ‘I don’t think that Walker Kessler, Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic have the athleticism to be able to slow down opposing offenses and lead the Lakers to a championship beyond the shadow of a doubt,’ you can say that,” Acho said.
The former NFL player felt Smith would have cried foul if a white analayst made similar remarks about a specific sports team being filled with black players.
“You are one of the more astute basketball analysts in the history of the sport,” he said. “You don’t have the luxury of crying out racism and then simultaneously spewing a racist remark. We just don’t have that luxury.”
Stephen A. Smith Reacts to Allegations
On Thursday, Smith doubled down on his earlier comments while responding to Emmanuel Acho’s controversial allegations. Notably, Smith claimed he was strictly referring to “basketball,” not the race of the trio of Lakers stars.
“What I said, and I’m going to reiterate this again, is when have we seen a team with three of its top players who happen to be white delivering a championship?” Smith said.
“Can we talk basketball? Because that’s what I’m talking about. I’m talking basketball.”
“…When’s the last time three white dudes led a team to a championship?” he added.
Smith said he was disappointed in Acho and others labeling him a racist.
“There’s a lot of people out there saying I shouldn’t have said what I said. They called me racist and all that. I don’t want to hear that.
“I am not backing up one bit, he added. “This is about basketball.”
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