New Orleans Pelicans TV analyst Antonio Daniels ripped ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Friday for “lazy” and “inappropriate” remarks he made earlier in the day about Zion Williamson.
On Friday’s episode of Get Up, Smith once again called out the Pelicans star for his weight.
“Zion Williamson, it’s not about his game. It’s about how many burgers he’s eating and whether or not he’s going to be in shape or is he going to keep eating McDonald’s and keep having chefs clamoring for him to come to their restaurants,” Smith said.
"Zion Williamson, it's not about his game. It's about how many burgers he's eating. Whether he is going to be in shape or keep eating McDonald's… That's what he has to prove, that the chefs don't love him any longer"
— Stephen A Smith on the pressure on Zion pic.twitter.com/ot0ejoeZTf
— Pelicans Film Room (@PelsFilmRoom) February 23, 2024
Daniels defended Williamson on SiriusXM’s NBA Radio.
“Listen man, I am all for objective, fair critiquing of individuals and, collectively, of teams,” Daniels said (via Mediaite.com). “I felt what Stephen A. said this morning of Zion was completely inappropriate and lazy. If you have an issue, there’s a way to go about addressing that issue.
“[The Pelicans] have won eight of their last nine games, but then you wake up this morning and this right here is the topic? To me, it’s almost gotten to the point where it’s personal.”
As Daniels alluded, it’s not the first time Smith has attacked Williamson for his weight. In December, he headlined one of his podcasts “Zion is Fat.”
The Pelicans expertly responded to Smith’s dig at Williamson with a couple of posts on X/Twitter, tweeting a couple of memes supposedly showing Smith’s college basketball statistics (Smith has addressed the memes before as inaccurate).
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 23, 2024
flock it, Stephen A. Smith highlights. pic.twitter.com/jWdaEBeTis
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 23, 2024
Daniels, who played 13 seasons in the NBA, joined the Fox Sports New Orleans Pelicans broadcast team as TV color analyst in 2019. He’s already had some memorable moments in the booth, including in early February, when he asked broadcast partner Joel Meyers to stop saying Toronto Raptors swingman Gradey Dick’s last name. We’ll let you use your imagination as to why, but here’s the video if you’re curious.
https://twitter.com/PelsFilmRoom/status/1754682732460790229
[Mediaite.com; Photo Credit: Bally Sports Southwest on YouTube]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.