As you dive into the NBA’s underbelly, expect bruised egos to trip you up. Especially one belonging to Stephen A. Smith. He built his career by loudly and proudly stating facts and opinions… sometimes wrong about stars in the league. But not everyone claps back with silence. Michael Beasley, for example. Raw, wounded, and unfiltered. He needed to let the world know that SAS’s words had wronged him. Thus, when the storyteller becomes the story, things get deliciously messy. And it feels like a mic-drop moment years in the making.

Michael Beasley once boldly claimed he and three New York Knicks could each drop 25 points at night. But Stephen A. clapped back, hinting Beasley was on “some serious” grass. But Beasley, now wiser and deeply changed, shut that down. In a touching moment, his daughter reading “connection” on FaceTime made him quit smoking. If she could read that, “grass” was just one syllable away.

Fast forward to now, and Michael Beasley isn’t quite ready to let bygones be bygones. Not even close. Old headlines never captured how deep the wounds ran, and now Beasley speaks louder with a voice aching to be heard. He’s got receipts, regrets, and a lot to get off his chest. Because for Beasley, the past never really passed. It’s still personal.

Stephen A. Smith faces major allegations as Michael Beasley digs into the past

“He lies,” the 36-year-old forward blasted Stephen A. Smith on Chris Haynes’s BIG3 podcast. At 16, Michael Beasley crossed paths with Smith at the Buoy gym, who looked straight through him like he was invisible. Years later, in 2017, Beasley slid into his DMs with fire and frustration. Why? Because Smith kept bashing him without truly knowing him. Beasley never forgot. Fame changed Stephen.

The ex-NBA star claimed: “Stephen A. Smith don’t give us a chance. He tells the people what he mean, and the people believe that. Even at a 40% rate, that’s money out of our pockets. His favorite line is, ‘Yeah, I spoke to this player.’ No, you haven’t.“ On many occasions, you will find Stephen A. telling his colleagues and the audience that he’s ‘heard’ or ‘spoken’ to somebody in the league about the information that he’s sharing. But in reality? That’s a bluff.

“That’s why people—LeBron and them won’t say it—but that’s why it’s like, bro, y’all say things about our regular lives and it challenges our character,” Beasley added. “Not realizing my daughter goes to school with the neighbor, and I can’t explain to them why they ain’t kicking it no more. ’Cause y’all told a false story and now they think my kids smoke w—.”

In 2012, Beasley posted a moment he thought was cool—resting with his toddler son in the back of a Phantom. The internet twisted it into a weed joke. That hurt. Years later, he’s still paying for it, not in headlines, but in his daughter’s questions. Meanwhile, critics like Smith never asked, never listened, just talked. But Beasley remembers everything to this day.

Strangers, with no clue who Michael Beasley truly is, throw money at him based on a lie someone believed. That stings deeper than cash can cover. Because sometimes, the price of a false image is respect lost, not fame gained. Got it? Good. “That’s the part of the media—and that’s why I like Draymond Green, man. He lit y’all that m———— on fire,” the 36-year-old added. “Y’all tell the truth,” he commended Chris Haynes.

“Y’all just think money is the ultimate band-aid; y’all just think having fame is the ultimate band-aid. When no, ’cause soon as you’re not LeBron James, it just turns into the ultimate microscope,” Beasley went all-out with his frustration. “Then the only thing they talk about good is, ‘Breaking news: ex-NBA player.’ It’s like—what about the m———— money I just gave to charity?”

Fame fades fast, and when it does, critics trade applause for judgment. Unless you are LeBron James, they forget the good. Forget the charity. Forget the heart. Beasley calls it out loud. Money is not a cure. It is camouflage. Meanwhile, the NBA spotlight keeps spinning, but Beasley is done playing background. As the smoke clears, he is not chasing clout—he is reclaiming truth. This is not just a grudge. It is a reckoning. And now, with the world finally listening, Stephen A. Smith finds himself under a far brighter glare.

ESPN faces the criticism’s wrath as Stephen A. Smith’s NBA Finals antics receive backlash

Just before Game 7 even began, NBA Countdown spun into a frenzy. Kendrick Perkins talked bets, Stephen A. seized the spotlight, and suddenly, analysis turned into a soliloquy. The Finals faded behind a wall of volume. Viewers, craving celebration, got courtroom theatrics. Then came Bob Myers with a calm line, “Just because you yell something, doesn’t mean it’s true,” and silenced the noise. Fans had seen enough. When the game becomes secondary to one man’s monologue, the remote control starts looking heroic.

Richard Deitsch later broke it all down with surgical precision with Jimmy Traina of SI. The show felt more like a trial than a tribute to the sport. With Stephen A. at its core, every segment bled negativity. There was no space for joy, no room to breathe. Even Malika Andrews and Big Perk seemed overshadowed, trapped in someone else’s spotlight. While Smith bagged a $100 million contract and hinted at politics, fans longed for charm, laughter, and maybe a little basketball magic on set.

In the clash of voices and values, Michael Beasley’s pain met Stephen A. Smith’s performance, and the world finally listened. From Phantom snapshots to phantom sources, Beasley exposed what fame masked and critics overlooked. Meanwhile, ESPN’s Finals stage turned into a monologue theater, leaving joy on the bench. Now, with backlash rising and truth roaring louder, the spotlight burns brighter than ever. The real reckoning has only just begun.