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

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

This dude's ego is completely out of control man. Correct me if I'm wrong but he wasn't this bad before Skip left and he suddenly became the defacto face of ESPN.

And the crazy thing is we're never going to get him out of the paint because he doesn't mess with white or young bytches like these other cats.

He’s gotten way worse in recent years. He was a high profile figure when it was him and skip, but he mostly did his job as a talking head conducting interviews and doing pregame and postgame shows. As of late he seems to think he’s the central figure of the NBA.

 

[Remote]

The NBPA needs to address this shyt in the offseason and force the league to take a stand against SAS and all the talking heads who’re dragging the image of the league down at every turn.

NBA media suffers absolutely no repercussions for what they say/do and it’s rotting the perception of the product.

It needs to be the first thing on the agenda.

Say what you want about how heavy handed the NFL can be, but they likely wouldn’t tolerate what the NBA does from certain networks and talking heads.

 

[The Devil's Advocate]

This is why SAS is still employed on these shows. He says exactly what people from upstairs want him to say. He's the ultimate sellout.

None of them NBA players in Memphis are living in bad conditions. They spend a lot of time in training facilities, etc. They are not spending their free time somewhere in the hood like they have to check in on some Stephen Jackson shyt

This is SAS getting a command from upstairs to talk shyt about a small market team to create more bad public image on their city.

I think eveyone's point is, in a city like LA, Philly, Chicago even.... You can be rich, have a fun life, be out the way, party in the mix, and keep it all seperate


In Memphis... You either stay your rich ass at home, or be around hood nikkas, cause the whole city is nothing but hood shyt and boredom

 

[Mr. Jack Napier]

That’s what he always does

Same thing happened with Haliburton last week, he made a general statement about the media and Stephen A jumped in to try to make it about him

Hit dogs holler, and SAS howling at the motherfukking moon

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

One of SAS's best friends in the whole world is Sean Hannity. Remember that.

 

[murksiderock]

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...

 

[jay211]

Damn, Stephen A really just snitched on Jimmy Butler like that?

 

[Mr. Jack Napier]

 

[jay211]

https://x.com/stephenasmith/status/1935124445103813005

He threatening Ja, now? he stays threatening an Athlete. one of these days, one of these Athletes are gonna pull his card. Actually I forgot, LeBron already did

 

[murksiderock]

Stephen A is so fukking wack. But take him out of the picture and there's a real convo to be had about Memphis...

Memphis has earned its reputation the same way Baltimore and New Orleans and Detroit and these other cities have. It didn't just start with this era, Memphis has historically been one of the US' most dangerous cities for well over 100 years. There isn't a single generation or era in time that Memphis was considered "safe", relative to the rest of the nation...

I'm on record as saying it has a captivating local culture. Its really unique. The people there LOVE being from there, you cant tell them Memphis aint the center of the universe. But it has plenty of drawbacks, and more than most cities...

These are 17 cities that are all, more or less, the same size and weight class as Memphis:

Albany, Birmingham, Buffalo, Fresno, Grand Rapids, Hartford, Louisville, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Providence, Raleigh, Richmond, Salt Lake, Tucson

How many of the above 17 cities would you take before you choose to live in Memphis? I guarantee the average person doesn't have Memphis in their Top 3 in this group of cities, and many won't have Memphis in their Top 5. Keep in mind all of these cities are around the same size, so its not like we comparing Memphis to places 2-3x bigger than it...

I've mentioned before, I went to 8th grade in Memphis (2002-03 school year), and my first NBA games attended were Grizzlies games that year. My stepmother is from there, and as a result so is much of her family. I spent some time in and outta there as an adult, haven't been back since my grandma died 6/28/17, and her funeral that July. Don't know when I'll ever go back, as I have no strong ties there besides my stepmom. But Memphis means something to me...

I'm someone who Memphis matters to and I wouldn't take it over a number of cities in its weight class, so there's a real convo to be had but Stephen A is gaslighting the city on some bullshyt...

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Him invoking Jimmy Butler's name makes him look even worse with his follow up comments considering Jimmy turned down the trade MONTHS before those FBI director's comments came out.

 

[bl2k8]

Is something going on in this dudes personal life i guess he’s completely ok with the entire nba world hating his ass I don’t get it

 

[Thavoiceofthevoiceless]

Say what you want about how heavy handed the NFL can be, but they likely wouldn’t tolerate what the NBA does from certain networks and talking heads.

They wouldn’t and they’ve shown it before. They put their foot in ESPN’s neck and both Bill Simmons and Jemele Hill both suspended when they were talking spicy about them. Not to mention, they punished ESPN further by giving them shytty MNF packages for years until they started complaining about it.

 

[pete clemenza]

Memphis is physically in Tennessee, but it's a Mississippi city to its very core. Just south of it is the Mississippi Delta region which is poor, neglected, with not much industry at all. And Memphis is basically the capital of the Mississippi Delta and takes on the same economic and mental characteristics of "The Delta" but in a bigger form. -Y'all seen the movie "Sinners". Its set in Clarksdale, Ms. which is 70 miles south of Memphis. If you drive south of Memphis on the 61 Freeway into the Mississippi Delta, all the small towns look like smaller versions of Memphis with the same issues of crime, unemployment, population loss, etc. Tunica, Clarksdale, Cleveland, Greenville, etc.

The majority of the city is entirely hood. Its the home of Fed Ex, Auto Zone, and with the Grizzlies coming to town they should have a nice trajectory upward over the past 15 years, but its been nothing but a downward spiral since. St. Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans, etc. have the same issues, but they're still respected more overall and offer way more than Memphis. Memphis has its charms but the moral and vibe is really low and dark there. Nashville passed it up like crazy and is the crown jewel of the state. Like I said, they had the bones and foundation to grow -Fed Ex, Auto Zone, Grizzlies, The Blues/Beale Street, Graceland, Memphis State, the Riverboats, BBQ, etc. But nothing ever materialized and has gotten significantly worse each and every year. I grew up in Fresno and if they had Fed Ex alone the city would turn into some other "up next"-everybody is moving there sh*t.

SAS need to cut this sh*t out asap. Speaking on the downfall of a city with that type of platform and reach is dangerous. He's basically starting the relocation process for the Grizzles if we're going to keep it a buck. Either Sliver has no control over his broadcast partners or he's encouraging SAS to speak this in existence because they wouldn't mind the Grizzlies packing up and head to Seattle. If SAS attacks New Orleans next then Silver definitely wants those teams to move. Get Seattle and Vegas taken care of by relocating franchises then go international with during expansion time.

 

[keond]

Stephen A passes off his right wing bullshyt as something he has heard from "sources". Aint nobody talking to this baldhead fukk. He just using that as a cover.