The Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game won’t take place until Friday night, but the event has already produced its first headline thanks to one of its coaches, Stephen A. Smith.
Opening ESPN’s First Take on Friday morning, Molly Qerim revealed that Smith would be arriving to the show late after suffering an injury during Thursday night’s practice for the Celebrity Game. According to Qerim, Smith — who will coach against his First Take counterpart, Shannon Sharpe in Indianapolis on Friday night — had to go to the hospital after being crossed up by Dallas Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons.
“Yesterday, S.A. had to get out to Nap Town early yesterday and they had a practice,” Qerim said. “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 I know is Stephen A.’s at the hospital right now getting x-rays.”
Qerim went on to lament that Smith was likely wearing Christian Louboutin shoes when the incident occurred — the same footwear he was wearing when he t̶h̶r̶e̶w̶ bounced his infamous first pitch at Yankee Stadium last fall.
Molly Qerim opens First Take by revealing that a Micah Parsons crossover during practice for the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game sent Stephen A. Smith to the hospital 😳 pic.twitter.com/fnBnNtpGHo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 16, 2024
Roughly 20 minutes later, Smith joined the show remotely from Indianapolis. And while he admitted to suffering an injury that required a visit to the hospital, he denied that it came as the result of him being crossed over by Parsons.
“Molly Qerim is a pathological liar. That did not happen to me. She made the whole thing up,” Smith said. “Crossed over by a Cowboy? Micah Parsons? Are you kidding me?”
So what happened?
“They had the practice last night and Shannon didn’t show up. So I go there because I’ve gotta scout my team because I’ve gotta see who I’m gonna play and who I’m gonna put on the bench because I’m not losing this game tonight, OK?” Smith said. “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.
“He and I were shooting around, shooting against one another, and there was some sweat on the floor and I was about to pull up just shooting and I bust my a**. I mean, feet flying in the air. I got up, it’s like I was sliding into third base or something.”
After panelist Tim Legler chided Smith for using sweat on the court as an excuse, the former Quite Frankly host confirmed that he was, in fact, wearing Christian Louboutin shoes and not traditional basketball sneakers at the time of the incident.
Stephen A. Smith confirms he suffered an injury during Celebrity All-Star Game practice, but denies that a Dallas Cowboy could ever cross him up. https://t.co/xQ46xyPRYc pic.twitter.com/h4adajB3FH
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 16, 2024
Naturally, ESPN’s Adam Schefter also weighed in with an official report on the matter.
Injury update: After a trip to the hospital, @stephenasmith is in an ankle brace for an injury he suffered practicing against Micah Parsons for the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. Smith will, however, coach tonight’s game. “Definitely,” he texted. pic.twitter.com/Z9WGXzCxKg
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 16, 2024
As for the extent of Smith’s injury, that remains unclear. But at a minimum, it appears that he’ll be coaching Friday night’s game in sneakers and not dress shoes.
