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It’s apparently open season on Stephen A. Smith.
Barstool’s Mark Titus teed off on the polarizing ESPN personality and also ripped the company for making its coverage of the Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals too Smith-centric.
“I would have zero problem with anything Stephen A. Smith is saying or doing if he wasn’t on NBA Finals broadcasts,” Titus said on “Mostly Sports with Mark Titus and Brandon Walker” on Thursday. “The fact that ESPN has appointed him to be one of the voices you hear when you tune into the NBA Finals, that’s the only problem I have.
“You’re allowed to talk s–t. … If you try to avoid the Stephen A. bulls–t, and you’re like, ‘You know what I want to do? I love basketball so I want to watch the two best basketball teams compete for the highest honor in professional basketball.’ If you choose to do that, you’re going to get Stephen A. in your face. And you’re just like, ‘God damn, this guy’s awful.’ I almost forget it because I don’t watch all the other s–t he does.”
Smith has been a popular punching bag in recent weeks with a seemingly never-ending stream of controversies.
Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker ripped him for taking their radio slot at Sirius XM.
Kevin Durant, Dave Portnoy and Pacers fan trolled him for playing Solitaire during the NBA Finals, only for Smith to later say, “Kiss my ass.”
And Smith now has gone to war with the city of Memphis and superstar Ja Morant after he claimed free agents don’t want to play in Grind City because its unsafe.
Former ESPN host Jason Fitz ripped Smith for those remarks, while Morant questioned why Memphis is being discussed during the Finals.
The Memphis comments provided the entry point for Titus and his co-host, Brandon Walker, to riff on Smith.
“Stephen A. has appointed himself God? Is he God now?” Walker said.
Titus responded: “Yes, he’s appointed himself God.”
He then said it’s “crazy” how Smith will rip players in a confrontational manner.
“It’s not just like him saying it, it’s like him threatening,” Titus said. “He’s threatening everybody at all times, it’s crazy. It’s crazy. It’s motherf–king crazy.”
Titus is not the first person to call out ESPN for leaning too much into Smith, with some criticizing the Worldwide Leader for showing him at games and even sometimes his arrival to venues.
Even Thursday’s Game 6 featured Smith and his daughter, Samantha, getting plenty of screen time ahead of the Pacers fighting to extend their season.
Smith will be front and center again Sunday night when the Thunder host the Pacers for Game 7, with Oklahoma City installed as a solid favorite.
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