Oct 23, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Stephen A. Smith (Stephen Smith) on the ESPN NBA Countdown live set at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Top ESPN basketball analyst Stephen A. Smith was busted by a fan in the stands for playing solitaire during Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
The blurry photo quickly went viral on social media, even catching the attention of Smith, who admitted he was catching up on some solitaire during a timeout.
“Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought… I can multitask. Especially during TIMEOUTS!” Smith posted on X. “Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!”
His post earned a “community note” — a feature on X meant to address misinformation — that added context: “Stephen A. is lying” and “This photo was taken during gameplay, NOT during a timeout.”
Many members of the national media have openly griped about this small-market NBA Finals. Traveling to Indiana and Oklahoma City in the middle of summer isn’t high on anyone’s wish list. But this has been an incredibly entertaining Finals, so naturally the internet trolls were upset with Smith for playing solitaire instead of watching the game.
Which leaves me with this question: Haven’t we all done this?
Attention spans are shorter now than they’ve ever been. Data shows most sports fans watch live games with their phones in hand for easy communication with friends or as a second-screen experience. When the phone’s in your hand, the urge to open it up and distract your brain for a few moments is always there.
For Stephen A., the escape is solitaire. For my dad, it’s Panda Pop. For my little brother, it’s TikTok at full volume — regardless of what’s on TV.
If Smith had been using the ESPN Bet app instead of solitaire, this could’ve turned into a viral advertising campaign. But the fact that he distracted himself with a solo card game has everyone online up in arms.
How many professional basketball games has Smith attended? Thousands? You’d have to guess he’s been to close to 100 NBA Finals games by now. I’m not going to blame him for not sitting on the edge of his seat the entire time. Sure, it’s his job to watch and analyze the game. But no one’s looking to him for an in-depth X’s and O’s breakdown of every possession.
You can take your eyes off the game for a few minutes — timeout or not — and still have a pretty good idea of what’s happening.
