STEPHEN A. Smith came under fire from Kevin Durant and NBA fans after being spotted during the NBA Finals.
The ESPN star was in the crowd to see the Indiana Pacers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Smith is part of ESPN’s team broadcasting the NBA Finals[/caption]
The vast majority of fans were locked in on the game, wearing yellow t-shirts given to them by Pacers staff.
But a clip of Smith sat in the stands during Game 4 caused controversy.
The NBA analyst was seen playing a game of solitaire on his phone.
The moment quickly went viral on social media.
And two-time NBA champion Durant, 36, shared it to his 14 million followers.
“Cmon Steve,” the former league MVP wrote.
And fans were also quick to give their take on Smith’s actions.
“How can you have all of these opinions while you’re playing solitaire instead of watching the game,” one said.
“Bro talks about knowing ball, he’s playing solitaire during the NBA finals,” another posted.
Smith noticed the clip was going viral and sent his own message on X.
“Yep! That’s me,” he said.
“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!”
Another clip posted appeared to show Solitaire on Smith’s phone while the game was going on, instead of during a timeout.
Kevin Durant has called out Stephen A. Smith in the past[/caption]
The ESPN star followed up with another message during the fourth quarter.
He posted what looked like a screenshot of a phone.
It had a picture of a solitaire game being played as well as a live stream of the Pacers-Thunder clash.
Durant previously took exception to Smith’s criticism of him and his Phoenix Suns team.
The 36-year-old said, “Steve is trying to run for president, u think he actually paid attention to a struggling team?? It’s called propaganda.”
