Just 24 hours after setting NBA Twitter ablaze with his latest hot take, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was, once again, front and center defending his much-talked-about stance on LeBron James and Stephen Curry’s place on the NBA’s Mount Rushmore.
Appearing on NBA Countdown ahead of Lakers-Warriors Game 2, Smith took a moment to double down on the controversial comments he made regarding what a fifth NBA championship would do for the respective four-time champion’s legacies. Smith, of course, went viral on Wednesday after stating James—the NBA’s all-time leading scorer—might have to be replaced by Curry, the greatest shooter of all-time, on the Mt. Rushmore of basketball if the Warriors star wins ring No. 5 first.
Smith first clarified that James winning a fifth title would, for him, make the conversation on whether or not he’s better than Michael Jordan “less insulting” before revisiting his take about Curry and James. In his defense, Smith said that the conversation is “about résumés” and if Curry wins a fifth ring, his résumé would rival James’s accomplishments compared to those of Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell—the other legends on his Mt. Rushmore.
