Stephen A. Smith is facing scrutiny over his professionalism after the ESPN analyst was caught playing solitaire on his phone during the NBA Finals on Friday night.
As the Indiana Pacers hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, a home fan sitting in the upper bowl of the arena captured Smith looking far more engrossed in his card game than the action on court.
The sports commentator was working for ESPN on the night, meaning he was required to provide analysis before, during and after the game.
However, X user @BleedBlue1986 wrote to Smith after sharing the photo of his bizarre act: ”How can you have all of these opinions while you’re playing solitaire instead of watching the game @stephenasmith?’
It was initially unclear whether the image was genuine or not, despite the photographer – whose name is Kimberly – insisting she took it during the third quarter.
Though after it went viral online, Smith confirmed the picture is real.
He responded on X: ‘Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!’
Yet Kimberly hit back in an instant, shutting down Smith’s claim that it was captured during a timeout.
‘Fool, this was you during game play,’ she replied along with another picture of him tackling the card game. ‘There’s videos. You started this new round during timeouts.’
Footage shared by another user online appears to show Smith playing solitaire while Pacers and Thunders players are very much in action on the court.
The First Take personality also poked fun at the controversy by sharing a mocked-up image of a solitaire game positioned just above coverage of Friday’s Pacers-Thunder matchup.
But NBA fans were far from impressed by his lack of focus on the biggest game of the season so far.
‘That’s embarrassing,’ one user said about Smith’s behavior in Indianapolis.
‘He is a disgrace,’ another fumed.
‘And some of you believe he watches games in his free time from home. He can’t even watch a game 4 NBA finals game in person,’ argued a third. ‘ESPN used to be serious but have become such a gimmick based sports network.’
‘Bro don’t even care about the game,’ wrote a fourth.
While one simply asked: ‘Good god really???’
DailyMail.com also reached out to Smith’s representatives for comment.
In the game itself, the Thunder went on a 12-1 run in the final three minutes of the game to stun the Pacers in a 111-104 come-from-behind victory, which has tied the NBA Finals at two games apiece.
Newly-crowned MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a game-high 35 points to lead all scorers, including a 12-for-24 mark from the field.
Smith’s embarrassing moment comes after he ramped up his feud with Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton, who appeared to throw shade at him earlier this week by saying: ‘What do they really know about basketball?’
After responding by calling him ‘ignorant’, the outspoken analyst continued about Haliburton: ‘It just amazes me how cats can be sometimes. Win the damn chip, bro. In the first two games of this NBA final series, you had your moment with 1.3 seconds left. Other than that, you didn’t play well.
‘That ain’t on me. That’s on you, you know. And, oh, by the way, just in case he was talking about me, my brother, I’m not going away. I’m gonna be here for a while. So next year, and the year after that… I’m going to be here, and players far more accomplished and far more superior have made their efforts trying to call me out. How has that worked out?’
