Jayesh Pagar
Stephen A. Smith is not someone you can easily get to. But when New York Knicks guard Josh Hart called him a “part-time Knicks fan,” Smith didn’t just fire back, he delivered one of the most personal and powerful responses of his career. And frankly, it was hard to argue with a single word of it.
The drama kicked off after the Knicks’ blowout 145-113 win over the Washington Wizards on March 23. Hart stepped up to defend teammate Mikal Bridges, calling the criticism surrounding him “unfair,” and argued that Bridges was simply doing what the coaching staff asked of him.
When a reporter from New York Newsday Sports brought up Smith’s earlier comments, in which he had publicly told Hart to “sit down and be quiet” on First Take, Hart didn’t hold back. He called Smith a “part-time Knicks fan” who “barely knows guys on the team.”
Stephen A. Smith unleashed on Josh Hart
Smith made it clear that Hart had severely underestimated him. “You don’t even know how close I am to the people who cut your checks,” Smith said in his video.
Then he presented his resume: 20 years as an NBA journalist, covering more than 100 games a year while traveling, hundreds of locker rooms visited, and established relationships with longtime players and coaches, something that many other journalists would only dream of having.
“I’ve been a Knicks fan since I was three. Josh Hart, that would happen to be 24 years before you were born,” Smith said.
The ESPN analyst was careful to make clear that his argument was never aimed at a personal level. He consistently made his point about the cost of getting Bridges, which was seven draft picks, including four unprotected first-rounders.
“Seven picks, man. Seven,” Smith said, making clear that those assets could have potentially landed a franchise-altering star like Giannis Antetokounmpo.
As we know, earlier this season, when the trade deadline was around, Antetokounmpo name was highly linked to the Knicks. If the Knicks had all those assets in their pocket, there was a high chance that they could have landed Giannis, and it would have just benefited the Knicks.
