David Samson defending Stephen A. Smith is laughable.
The ex-Miami Marlins president and host of Nothing Personal with David Samson said as much, all while coming to the defense of Stephen A. for mindlessly playing Solitaire during Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Pat McAfee respects Smith’s commitment to playing your father’s favorite card game. So does Samson.
Well, sort of…
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“Defending someone who I think is a complete blowhard, who does not have complete conviction in all his feelings,” Samson began. “And just wants to make sure he can get clipped and aggregated. By the way, I’m genuflecting in your general direction to get $20 million to do what you do. Believe me.”
Samson said Smith’s so-called “cover-up” — admitting he only played solitaire during timeouts — was actually worse than the original offense. But to Samson, the real crime isn’t playing a card game or showing up to First Take in pajamas. It’s how Smith and ESPN cover the NBA Finals in the first place.
“The gravitas, and I use that word understanding that there are wars going on,” Samson said. “There is genocide going on. There is misunderstanding going. There’s hate. There’s death. There’s shootings. I understand all that is going on off the field, but right now, on the field, the job of the broadcaster is to give the proper weight and gravitas to that which they’re presenting to you. This is not a Tuesday in the middle of the season. This is not a January 17th game. This is the NBA Finals.
“My background, old guy or not, is when our friend, Bob Costas, is setting up an NBA Finals game in the ’90s, you think that not only is this appointment viewing, but you think, my god, they could be splitting the atom here. You think you’re about to see drama in a way that you would expect a curtain to be the precursor to the feeling you’re about to have. You’re about to be entertained in a way that merits the amount of money you’re paying if you’re in person and the amount of time you’re spending if you’re watching on television.”
Samson’s point is less about solitaire and more about standards. His issue isn’t that Stephen A. was distracted; it’s that ESPN’s entire NBA Finals coverage feels distracted. The network has leaned so far into the cult of personality that it forgot the actual product still matters.
“My biggest complaint about Stephen A. Smith, about ESPN, is every single game of the NBA Finals, in my mind — forget the digital signage, which was totally botched — my view is that there is not that sort of excitement, that sort of drama,” said Samson. “This series has been full of drama. We’ve got a Game 5 tonight, which is really Game 1 in a 2-out-of-3. Go back to the days when I was young and 66 percent of you weren’t even born. And the first round of the NBA Playoffs…used to be a 2-out-of-3. The most amazing thing about a 2-out-of-3 – and it was the first round — but the most amazing thing is: yikes, you gotta win Game 1.
“This is the NBA Finals. This is tied at two, with Game 5 coming up this evening. Do I think the story should be about Stephen A. talking about Tyrese Haliburton, getting into another fight with a player? Because that’s what you’re all watching. You’re all clicking it. You’re all eating alive all of the ridiculousness off-court stuff that’s being fed to you. Why do you think ESPN keeps doubling down on personalities who just yell into the microphone about nonsense with no knowledge of anything? Stephen A. is not understanding what’s going on, because he doesn’t do it. Stephen A. isn’t the story. He’s supposed to be the presenter of the story.”
Samson’s gripe here is less about Stephen A. Smith and more so about what ESPN has allowed the Finals to become. The actual basketball, the stakes, the strategy, the drama of a 2-2 series heading into a pivotal Game 5, and how all of it gets buried under a pile of performative nonsense.
Instead of elevating the moment, ESPN seems content to manufacture distractions. And when the lead analyst is too busy playing cards or picking fights with NBA players on-air, it’s hard not to feel like the network forgot what it’s supposed to be doing in the first place.
