On Tuesday’s episode of First Take, Smith shared his thoughts about Williamson being ruled out for the remainder of the season because of a lower back contusion suffered last month. While Smith believes that Zion has the potential to be a true superstar in the NBA, he labeled him a “bust” because of his history of missing games.

“I feel very, very bad for the Pelicans and the city of New Orleans,” said Smith. “Zion Williamson is a star-caliber talent. When he’s on the court and healthy, he’s a monster. The problem is he’s rarely available. And as great as he is, the word ‘bust’ comes to mind. Not because of his talent, I’m only talking about his availability. If you’re not available, it doesn’t matter how great you are. And he’s almost never available.”

Smith went on to say that it would be difficult for the Pelicans to navigate a trade involving Williamson because his lack of availability would deter the interest of other teams.

But the Pelicans hit back at Smith calling his critique of Williamson “baseless.” Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the Pelicans shared that their video of Stephen A.’s lowlights garnered an award nomination.

According to Sports Illustrated, Williamson played in 30 games this season averaging 24.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists. Over the course of his career, Williamson had played in more than 60 games in just two of his six NBA seasons. In total, he has played, 214 career games. 

“Good day to announce that our Stephen A. Smith highlight video has been nominated for best sports social video in the @TheWebbyAwards,” the post read.

During an interview with Dave Rubin for his conservative Blaze TV show, The Rubin Report, Smith discussed the current state of sports, the right wing’s silent majority, and the “hypocrisy” of liberals.

Smith then shared his frustrations with Harris’ campaign and said that he was guilted into voting for Harris instead of Donald Trump.

“When you hear people talking about practical, practical things, and then I saw folks on the left basically trying to guilt me into voting for you, you know, it bothered me,” he admitted. “I might have ended up voting for Kamala Harris because I didn’t like how Trump acts, but what I didn’t do was call him a racist. I didn’t call him a Nazi.”

Smith then went on to say that he’s known Trump for several years and defended some of his actions.

“I knew Trump before he ran for president. We talked on the phone. We talk at basketball games or boxing events,” Smith said. “I knew this man, and so some of the things that were being said about him I knew were not true, and I was saying, ‘Come on y’all, you got to do better than that.’” 

The First Take star said he was “misinformed” about not casting his vote for  Trump. He also blamed Barack Obama for saying that misogyny was the main reason that Black men didn’t vote for Harris for president. Smith said he was so offended by Obama’s sentiments that he almost switched his vote to Trump.

“I did not vote for Trump but I gotta tell you something, I’m not mad he won,” Smith said.

Check out the entire video below:

On the most recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, he shared his thoughts about the tenuous situation facing his fellow “First Take” co-host.

 “They revealed some of those explicit text messages. That was uncomfortable,” Smith said. “I don’t know if that’s a strategy that would work.”

 “One of the hardest things in the world for all of us to do is to just lay low and be quiet and let our legal team do it,” Smith added.

Elsewhere in the episode, Smith noted that Sharpe vehemently denied all the charges levied against him.

“I can tell you all that I spoke to Shanon and he emphatically proclaims his innocence,” explained Smith. 

On Monday (April 22), Sharpe was hit with a $50 million lawsuit and accused of sexual assault. According to the suit, Sharpe was accused of committing assault, sexual assault, battery, and sexual battery, and engaged in the intentional infliction of emotional distress in what is described as a “rocky consensual relationship” that went on with a woman for almost two years. 

Addressing allegations for the first time, Sharpe also released a video statement on Tuesday (April 22) about the lawsuit.

“I’m gonna be open, transparent, and defend myself because this isn’t right,” Sharpe said. “This is all being orchestrated by Tony Buzbee, who has targeted Jay-Z. Tony Buzbee targets Black men, and I believe he is going to release a 30-second clip of a sex tape that tries to make me look guilty and plays into every stereotype you could possibly imagine.”

“You know what happened, but you’re trying to manipulate the media,” Sharpe added. “The encounter in question took place during the day at her invitation, and now that appears to be a deliberate setup coordinated by Gabby, also known as Carly on OnlyFans. Gabby and Tony Buzbee want $50 million. What they’re getting is sued for defamation and trying to take me down.”

Many social media users speculated that the confrontation was related to Smith’s criticism of LeBron’s son, Bronny. Lipreaders suggested that James said, “Keep my son out of this s***.” The viral clip sparked reactions from fans, some of whom pointed out the contrast between Smith’s usual outspoken demeanor on First Take and his quieter response when confronted by the NBA star in person. Others noted how intimidating it must be to face off with a 6’9″, 250-pound athlete like James.

Smith’s criticism of Bronny has stirred controversy before. Last month, he revealed that LeBron’s agency, Klutch Sports, reached out to him about his comments regarding Bronny’s playing time. Smith clarified that he didn’t oppose Bronny playing in the season opener, calling it a “phenomenal moment.” However, Smith also stated that he believed Bronny wasn’t ready for more playing time, suggesting that his appearance in a Lakers uniform should’ve been limited to that opener. Despite his criticism, Smith acknowledged Bronny’s potential, saying, “I think the kid will be in the NBA one day… he’s gonna be fine — eventually.”

In a brief interview, Wade told TMZ that he would have reacted the same way that James did if he felt his child was being unfairly targeted by the sports commentator.

“I love both guys,” Wade said.. “I had a conversation with Stephen A about it and I told him… I would have walked up on him the same way. This is all love and sports.”

During the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers game on Thursday, March 6, LeBron got up from the bench and was visibly angry as he addressed Smith. On First Take on Friday, March 7, Smith revealed that James was upset over his numerous criticisms of Bronny’s game.

“He clearly took exception to some of the things that he heard me say and he confronted me about it,” Smith said on his show.

“That wasn’t a basketball player confronting me,” Smith said on Friday. “That was a parent, that was a father. I can’t sit here and be angry or feel slighted by LeBron James in any way in that regard.”

Appearing on Gil’s Arena podcast, Smith was much more aggressive with his stance regarding the situation.

“I thought it was weak,” Smith said. “I thought it was some bullshit—but in the moment, I knew that I was listening to a father.”

Smith also divulged that James told him, “You gotta stop talking sh*t about my son.”

While on Gil’s Arena, Smith responded to James’ brief conversation with ESPN game analyst Richard Jefferson before the Lakers’ 111-101 loss to the Boston Celtics on Saturday, March 8.

 “Once he talks about, ‘I’m pleading with you as a father,’ I can’t,” James said.

According to Smith, if James had mentioned that, he would have responded differently.

“I thought that he misrepresented the argument, I was glad he did,” Smith added. “Because what he was really talking about, which was confirmed with his conversation with Richard Jefferson, is that I was talking about him as a father,” Smith said. “Had he said that to me, I wouldn’t have been thrown off. I would’ve came right back at him — ‘Yes I was, I was talking about you, you did this sh*t.”

The sports analyst says Will Smith owes the Black community an “explanation” after the infamous Chris Rock slap.

If you can recall, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith at the 2022 Oscars. He said to the actress, “Jada, G.I. Jane 2 can’t wait to see it,” presumably referring to the actress’ newly shaved head due to her alopecia. It was immediately clear that Will nor his wife Jada did not think that joke was funny. The actor then walked on stage and slapped Chris Rock across the face, “keep my wife’s name out of your f**king mouth.”

Smith has since apologized to Rock, however, according to Stephen A. Smith that’s simply not enough. During a recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show he expresses, “I’m not nearly as interested in seeing Will Smith in the movies than I am of seeing him doing an actual sit-down interview with somebody to explain why he did what he did,” he said.

“I don’t care if it’s with [blogs]. I don’t care if it’s with Oprah. Because you know it ain’t gonna be me, right? He ain’t gonna sit down with me because some questions are gonna get asked; but I don’t care who it’s with. You gotta provide an explanation as to why that happened. It can’t be that you went to therapy and you learned the error of your ways, or you’ve addressed some of the demons that were plaguing you mentally and emotionally and spiritually. That’s not good enough! And even though we weren’t the ones that were slapped literally, ladies and gentlemen, figuratively, the Black community was slapped.”

He continued: “We know you wouldn’t have smacked Ricky Gervais,” he continued, “Bill Maher, Bill Burr, or a host of others. We know you wouldn’t have done that. No apology necessary. I’m just saying a lot of folks ain’t get over that. A lot of folks find it hard to just go to the movies to watch you. I’m one of those people, and I never missed a Will Smith movie.”

Despite Stephen A.’s take, Will’s new movie, “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” earned $104.6 million globally in its opening weekend.

The ESPN personality continued to speak on the feud on Wednesday (March 26) night on his live YouTube show where he got some thighs off his chest. On the show, Smith claimed that he would have swung at James if the Los Angeles Lakers star had hit him during their confrontation on March 6.

“Let me state for the record that while we bring up that, let me assure you it wouldn’t have gone down like that,” Smith said.

“I would have gotten my ass kicked because had that man put his hands on me, I would have immediately swung on him. Immediately. That, I’m not going to tolerate. But I knew he wasn’t going to do something like that.

On First Take on Thursday (March 27), he opened the show by sharing his thoughts on James who shared a video of Smith boxing on social media.

“He puts out some page about me boxing and all of this other stuff from a decade ago with two torn rotator cuffs, fine, no problem. It’s very, very embarrassing video, I’ll be the first to say and all that stuff,” Smith explained. “Even though I like it to be left up there because if people think I want to throw hands like that, that’s how I throw hands, knock yourself out. I’m good with that. I know that the man today is not the man that I was a decade ago, physically and beyond. I can tell you that.”

He also stated that James was “butt-hurt” because he does not consider him to be the greatest player in NBA history.

“So, we get that out the way. Why do I bring that up? Because that’s how petty you’ve become? You’re LeBron James. You’re that butt hurt over the things that I’m saying that you would post that video,” he continued. “When has LeBron James ever done something like that? But suddenly you’re doing that as it pertains to me. This man is in his feelings. I wonder why?”

Smith is responding to James’ comments that he made during a rare interview on The Pat McAfee Show. The NBA superstar claimed that Smith was using the incident to continually speak about him.

“He’s like on a Taylor Swift tour run right now,” James said. “It started with, ‘I didn’t want to address it … but since the video came out I feel the need to address it.”

James said, “[Smith] couldn’t wait till the video comes out so [he] can address it. [Smith]’s gonna be smiling from ear to ear when he hears me talking about him. I know he’s gonna be happy as hell.”

James noted that he took offense to Smith criticizing him as a father.

“He completely missed the whole point. The whole point. Never would I ever not allow people to talk about the sport and criticize players about what they do,” James continued. “That is your job to criticize, or to be in a position where if a guy’s not performing, you know? That’s all part of the game. But when you take it and you get personal with it, it’s my job to not only protect my damn household but protect the players.”