ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has had many rants during his long tenure at the network since 2005. He’s also had his fair share of controversial takes as well, and while he often has a point, sometimes it sounds like he just likes hearing himself talk. One of Brown’s more famous rants came in 2008 when blasted the Memphis Grizzlies for trading recent Hall of Fame inductee Pau Gasol to the Lakers for former No. 1 overall pick Kwame Brown.
Smith was trying to figure out why the Grizzlies would trade their star player for Brown who’s widely considered one of the biggest busts in league history. During a recent appearance on the rising “Podcast P with Paul George,” Smith was asked if there’s anything in his career he wishes he could take back. Smith paused and then proceeded to say the Kwame Brown rant.
Smith Didn’t Take Back What He Said, But Regrets Rant Now
“Kwame Brown, I wish I could do that over,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t do it. I know what I said. I did mean it. I ain’t gonna sit here and tell you I ain’t mean the s— I said. But I didn’t know it was going to be like this.”
Smith says he now realizes that the rant was somewhat hurtful to Brown, and for that he regrets it.
“Remember, I said it before Twitter, Facebook,” Smith said. “I didn’t know 15 years later they gonna have memes and videos. And when I see what he says, I realize how hurt he is.
“One time I had to address it, because I felt like he was coming at me like I was scared. I can’t even tell you when I did that, the stars who called — I ain’t gonna mention no names — practically all of them was Hall of Famers. And, they’re like — nah, I was like, ‘Where were y’all when he was saying all of this stuff for weeks?’ I didn’t say anything. And I see some of the clips now and some of the stuff that he says, I just be like, ‘Go ahead, bro. Say what you want to say.’”
Brown Called Smith Out In 2021
Following an episode of the “All The Smoke” podcast back in May of 2021 with Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson and Gilbert Arenas, where the three talked about the SAS rant where he called him a “bona fide scrub,” Brown took to social media to let it be known that he couldn’t stand Smith. Brown even offered Smith up for a fight over his comments.
Telling him to come to Seattle for a fisticuffs battle.
Why Seattle?
It’s the only city where you can have hand-to-hand combat without a waiver.
Smith took the high road and quickly said Brown was right for how he felt.
