The NBA Finals have the eyes of the world, but is it not entertaining enough for Stephen A. Smith? This was the question of the day after social media users highlighted the ESPN sportscaster playing Solitaire! Yupp, not even UNO. The same did not earn him much favor from NBA fans who thought Smith was prioritizing an old computer card game over the intense competition between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton. However, the comments caught the attention of Smith, and he didn’t waste time defending himself.

Less than an hour after ‘Legion Hoops’ and other media outlets reported Smith playing Solitaire, the ‘First Take’ host took to his official X account. He reposted the tweet that showed him caught red-handed, and wrote “Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals.  This is going 7 games now, peeps!” Yikes!

Unfortunately for Smith, he lied, and the truth soon came out. Earlier, it was just the picture of the sportscaster playing Solitaire that was going viral. Now, a recent Athlon Sports video shows the game continued while the picture was taken. 12 seconds were remaining on the shot clock. Well, if people were already upset with Smith, then this certainly made things worse.

You’d think Stephen A. Smith would own up to his mistake. Well, he didn’t. In fact, shortly after the infamous “I can multi-task” tweet, he doubled down with another post—this time showing a screenshot of his Solitaire game, while a stream of the game’s fourth quarter played at the bottom of his phone screen.

However, based on the initial photo of Smith playing Solitaire, it was pretty clear he wasn’t streaming the game at that moment. And honestly, why stream the game when it’s happening right in front of you? According to the IndyStar, tickets for Game 4 on StubHub were starting at $823! Yet, despite having a prime seat, Smith chose to focus his attention elsewhere, and still refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing.

This isn’t a good look for Stephen A. Smith. Even setting aside the questionable truthfulness, his actions could be deemed unprofessional. Smith certainly does not need that tag, especially after the claim he made about Tyrese Haliburton recently.

Stephen A. Smith gets into feud with Tyrese Haliburton after ‘non-superstar’ claim

Stephen A. Smith is known for frequently voicing his fiery opinions, whether about the current state of the game or specific players. The same has also gotten him into trouble with players who have not taken his opinions lightly. Jaylen Brown famously asked Smith to ‘State Your Sources’ after the sportscaster reported the viewpoints of an ‘unnamed source’ live on air. He faced criticism from LeBron James in light of the opinions he expressed about the star’s son, Bronny. More recently, his viewpoints on Tyrese Haliburton generated an issue, from which the sportscaster did not back down.

During a segment of ‘First Take,’ Stephen A. Smith went viral for claiming that Haliburton doesn’t qualify as a superstar because of inconsistency. After all, as he highlighted, “There have been at least 13 or 14 games this year where he scored in single digits — that’s not a superstar in this league.” Haliburton criticized the NBA media’s viewpoints about him by stating, “The commentary is always going to be what it is. Most of the time the talking heads on the major platforms, I couldn’t care less, honestly. What do they really know about basketball?… At a time like this I’m not really on social media as much. I try to stay off it as much as I can. But you see it. ESPN might be on in my house, and there it is. It is what it is.” His statement clearly reflected a connection.

Despite the omission of Stephen A. Smith’s name, the sportscaster remained offended. It compelled him to speak out.

“Win the damn chip, bro. In the first two games of this NBA final series, you had your moment with 0.3 seconds left. Other than that, you didn’t play well,” said Smith. “That ain’t on me. That’s on you, you know. And, oh, by the way, just in case he was talking about me, my brother, I’m not going away. I’m gonna be here for a while. So next year, and the year after that… I’m going to be here, and players far more accomplished and far more superior have made their efforts trying to call me out. How has that worked out?”

Indiana Pacers fans would certainly be rejoicing with the ‘Solitaire news’ going viral. After all, this is the proof they needed to win any future arguments if Stephen A. Smith ever claims Tyrese Haliburton again. Even if Smith is on point about his opinions.