Stephen A. Smith has denied claims that he was hospitalized after getting crossed over by Micah Parsons ahead of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. “Molly Qerim is a pathological liar. That did not happen to me. Crossed over by a Cowboy? They had the practice last night. So I go there, cause I got to scout my team, cause I got to see I’ma play and who I’ma put on the bench, cause I’m not losing this game tonight, ok? And the next thing you know, that damn Micah Parsons is on the basketball court acting like he’s trying to sack quarterbacks and stuff, and pushing people around. So, after that, he and I were shooting around, shooting against one another. And it was some sweat on the floor and I literally bust my ass. I mean, feet flying in the everything, go BOW. You understand what I’m saying?" Smith said.
The rebuttal came after Qerim had opened First Take with a very different version of events. “This was not confirmed by Adrian Wojnarowski, but this is what I was told by Stephen A. If he wants to change the story when he gets here, that’s fine. But this is what I understand: Stephen A. Smith is one of the coaches in the Celebrity All-Star Game tonight, alongside our guy Shannon Sharpe, it’s gonna be epic TV. Yesterday, SA had to get out there, get out to Naptown early, and they had a practice. So, he started messing around with Micah Parsons, of all people, one of the guys on his team, obviously a Dallas Cowboy. Micah crossed him over and all I know is Stephen A’s at the hospital right now getting x-rays," Qerim claimed.
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Stephen A. Smith Believes LeBron James Should Have Taken Warriors Trade
Meanwhile, Smith questioned why LeBron James killed a potential deal that would have sent him to the Warriors at the trade deadline. Smith confirmed that the story first reported by his fellow ESPN colleagues was true but asked what it said about LeBron. "How happy is LeBron with the Lakers management?" Smith asked. However, he went on to say, "LeBron James. If there is one person on Earth you should want to play with, it's Steph Curry."
Per the original ESPN report, the efforts of the Warriors to acquire LeBron didn't get past an initial phone call. Warriors owner Joe Lacob reached out directly to his Lakers counterpart Jeannie Buss. The deal was struck down by Buss and Rich Paul. LeBron's agent. However, the Warriors were not the only team reportedly interested in LeBron. Earlier in the run-up to the deadline, the Sixers Daryl Morey reached out to Lakers GM Rob Pelinka. Morey wanted to enquire about LeBron's availability after seeing his cryptic hourglass tweet. That conversation was quickly ended when Pelinka asked Morey whether Joel Embiid was available.
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