Stephen A Smith Says NBA Players Have Told Him They Would Feel Unsafe Playing In A City Like Memphis

[UnQuantized]

Vegas Grizzlies

 

[Remote]

Shout out to Bane for calling this whole thing BS

 

[valet]

The news reporter is cracking jokes on Stephen A. He can't do that. That's unprofessional

 

[The War Report]

Gangsta Pat.

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

I don’t know why leaders are offering him to come to Memphis considering he had no interest in going on prior and will do nothing to change his opinion about the city.

Hell, people will clown him to his face for the flagrant comments.

 

[The War Report]

Makes Sauce Walka and that fat goofy Mexican rapper even more stupid trynna stunt in a place like Memphis.

 

[IsThatBrothaMouzone?]

Bullshyt...

The Cardinals, Blues, and St Louis City play in St Louis, which is more dangerous than Memphis...

The Saints and Pelicans play in New Orleans, which is more dangerous than Memphis...

Baltimore, Detroit, and Cleveland are all in the same "tier" of violence, per murder and violent crime stats, and yet host 9 big league teams between them...

Any athlete citing "safety" as a reason to not live in Memphis is gaslighting. These guys don't want to live in Memphis because there's nothing really there. It's a poor Mississippi River city, with similar demographics to New Orleans and St Louis, without the buzz, festivities, and culture those two dangerous ass Mississippi River cities have...

These players wouldn't be living in the bad areas anyway. Memphis just isn't a glamor city. It was historically. The 80s and 90s it became surpassed by Nashville in its own state, amd while Nashville has blown up into a true glamor, major city (all kinds of TV shows and movies set in Nashville now), Memphis has continued to slide further behind...

But on the topic of safety, the bad areas in Nashville are really fukking rough, Memphis-esque. The bad areas in LA and NY and Vegas and Philly and Miami and Houston, and on and on and on, are all really fukking bad...

Memphis is segregated and poor with a lot of poverty areas. But there are nice areas in Memphis...

These mf's gaslighting Memphis and I ain't with it. The Gasol brothers loved it because it was theor first home in America (Marc went to high school in Memphis), its home if youre a foreigner and land there...

Z-Bo and Ja love it because they are from literal two stoplight towns, Memphis is a "big city" to them...

The Morris Twins like Memphis because it in many ways is a southern version of Philly where they from..

Conley liked it because its only a few hours from where he grew up and is like a southern version of Indy (his hometown), and he also likes a slower, more chill pace of life...

There are people and players Memphis would appeal to. So even putting all players in that bucket that finds Memphis undesirable is wack...

Just say its too small with not enough motion for a young multimillionaire with unlimited money and freedom. I can promise you the bad areas in SF are no fukking walk in the park. But its SF...

Memphis is just small, dirty, poor, segregated, and country. The antithesis of what most young athletes are looking for...

I'd play in Memphis but live in Nashville...

Feels like SAS is just pushing talking points to encourage the idea of every good player going to NYC/LA/Miami.

Coastal talking heads are afraid to be more than a couple hundred miles from the ocean.

Honestly, being in smaller market or a rough city can be a positive. Forces (smart) players to focus on their craft. Like being in Green Bay/Buffalo versus LA/Miami.

Only drawback is the social life and making connections to help you level up financially even more in time for retirement. Flip side is these dudes are traveling from November to April/May/June, so this only matters in summer through Halloween. Keep a fancy apartment in Memphis and buy a home + make contacts in a different city.

 

[Lord Beasley]

Ja got to chill, bruh

 

[Stick Up Kid]

Memphis has been a war zone for 30+ years..

we gettin fake outraged now about SAS's comments?

 

[Gritsngravy]

I feel the same. But in this case, SAS goofy ass wanna impress me, discuss how Memphis got to the way it is today. While everything east of Jackson has had a boom and entire industries move in, Memphis has either remained stagnant or regressed. But he won't. Cause he don't know shyt, just parroting what he's been told to say.

He kinda hinted at it with the “black city in a red state” comment but h could’ve went in on the state of Tennessee but we know why he didnt

 

[SchoolboyC]

Feels like SAS is just pushing talking points to encourage the idea of every good player going to NYC/LA/Miami.

Coastal talking heads are afraid to be more than a couple hundred miles from the ocean.

Honestly, being in smaller market or a rough city can be a positive. Forces (smart) players to focus on their craft. Like being in Green Bay/Buffalo versus LA/Miami.

Only drawback is the social life and making connections to help you level up financially even more in time for retirement. Flip side is these dudes are traveling from November to April/May/June, so this only matters in summer through Halloween. Keep a fancy apartment in Memphis and buy a home + make contacts in a different city.

He says all the time his dream Finals is LA vs Miami

He wants the best players in the flashiest markets so when ESPN sends him on location to cover games during the playoffs he can be in those cities

 

[Lord Beasley]

Memphis has been a war zone for 30+ years..

we gettin fake outraged now about SAS's comments?

i see why you're horrendously negative

 

[Born2BKing]

I don’t believe any credible source actually told him that. Whether true or not lol

If you think this is hard to believe then you never been to Memphis.