Stephen A. Smith fires back at Kash Patel: ‘I’m not changing my mind’

Stephen A. Smith won’t get into a war of words with FBI director Kash Patel, but he won’t back down from his comments about Donald Trump either.

As much as this bombshell federal sports betting probe may have been a surprise to many in the NBA, the bigger surprise might be how quickly it turned into a back-and-forth between Smith and Patel. After Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones were arrested in separate sports betting probes, prop bets Thursday morning, Smith warned Trump is “coming”  on First Take, seemingly implying POTUS was influencing the investigation.

Thursday night, Patel was on Fox News with Laura Ingraham and called Smith, connecting Trump to the NBA betting scandal, “the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard from anyone in modern history.” But Smith responded Friday afternoon on his SiriusXM Radio show, claiming he expects to be proven right.

“I would say he’s the director of the FBI, let’s just say I’m not trying to get on his bad side,” Smith admitted. “But having said that, I still stand by what I said. And I’m not changing my mind…In the interest of being real and making you understand who I am as a journalist and a commentator spanning 30 years, I just want you all to know that it’s customary for people to say I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, that I’m off my damn rocker, only to come down the pike weeks, months later and say, ‘Yeah, it was true’ or the facts bear those things out.

“This investigation has been going on when Biden was in office. They talked about how this stuff has been going on since 2019, which is when Trump was in office. I’m not implying that Kash Patel doesn’t have any legitimacy to the case that he’s pursuing against these individuals…and I’m not about to argue with an FBI director. I’m simply making the point that in the end, you have a president in place that has a lengthy connection to the sports world, rife with friends and enemies. And those who are his enemies, he doesn’t mind inconveniencing one bit. And when it comes to the NBA brand, it doesn’t bother him.”

Considering his pardon history, it’s reasonable to wonder if Trump would have sought to extend a lifeline if he were buddy-buddy with the NBA. But implying Trump influenced the NBA sports betting takedown is very different than believing he probably doesn’t mind seeing them sweat through it.

There are legitimate accusations stemming from these probes involving an illegal poker ring and influencing player prop bets. And it undermines the alleged crimes to imply Trump is behind these NBA investigations. But Smith probably got the attention he wanted out of this take.