The 2025 NBA Finals is turning out to be a thrilling back-and-forth series between two equally matched teams in the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
On Friday night at at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana, ‘breezy’ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his young Thunder team evened the championship series up at 2-2 behind his 35 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter, in a gritty 111-104 win.
SGA, this season’s MVP, led the Thunder to a pivotal Game 4 winGettyFans couldn’t take their eyes off the enthralling spectacle, but it turns out one man very much could — ESPN’s very own Stephen A. Smith, who was spotted playing solitaire on his cellphone as the action unfolded.
The image quickly went viral as thousands reacted to the famous talking head appearing to be more fixated on a card game than the NBA’s showpiece event.
At first, many thought Smith was merely passing time at halftime, but further digging revealed his card game antics were happening in-game.
X user @BleedBlue1986 wrote to Smith after sharing the photo of his bizarre act: ”How can you have all of these opinions while you’re playing solitaire instead of watching the game @stephenasmith?’
Countless people commented on the photo, wondering how common this was for Smith and how closely he pays attention to games.
“And some of you believe he watches games in his free time from home. He can’t even watch a game 4 NBA finals game in person,” one person wrote.
The image of Smith playing the popular card game on his cellphone went viralX Smith acknowledge it was legit with his response and a mocked up image of the game over the Finals actionX@stephenasmith Smith clapped back at fans and the likes of Kevin Durant after the image went viralGettyNBA star Kevin Durant, known to engage in playful banter with Smith, posted the viral image to his Instagram with the caption: “CMsON STEVE.”
Stephen A. eventually caught wind of the viral photo, emphatically responding and very much owning the situation.
He responded on X: “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!”
However, the original poster dismissed Smith’s claim that it was captured during a break in play.
“Fool, this was you during game play,” they replied. “There’s videos. You started this new round during timeouts.”
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Footage shared by others seemed to confirm that Smith was indeed playing solitaire while the game was going on in the background.
Smith also appeared to mock himself by sharing an image of a solitaire game positioned above coverage the coverage of the Game 4 contest.
The 57-year-old has caused a stir during this year’s Finals by refusing to acknowledging Pacers leader Tyrese Haliburton.
Halliburton has become known as he Clutch King due to his late-game heroics, but Smith refuses to place him in the upper echelons of the sport alongside the likes of LeBron James, Anthony Edwards, and Nikola Jokic.
“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,” Smith said on First Take this week.
In the wake of his detractors, Haliburton posted, “What do they really know about basketball?”, which prompted another fiery rant from Smith.
“It just amazes me how cats can be sometimes. Win the damn chip, bro. In the first two games of this NBA final series, you had your moment with 1.3 seconds left. Other than that, you didn’t play well,” he said.
“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?”
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