NBA Analyst Stephen A. Smith Defends Himself From Playing Solitaire

Throughout the Finals, Smith has been covering the series with his fellow ESPN analysts. In every game, they’re present, breaking down the game and giving their insight about what they see. There are a few fans who rely on what the broadcast team says in front of the television.

Which is why seeing Smith not pay much attention to the best-of-seven series between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder was surprising. On Tuesday, the media personality got to defend himself for playing the card game on his phone.

Smith talked about it in his recent appearance at SiriusXM NBA Radio and told the fans that he doesn’t care if they see him play the card game.

“I was doing what the hell I always do,” Smith said. “For those out there that don’t like it – kiss my a--. When I’m watching the game, I’m watching the game. If there’s a break in the action… I can play the damn thing for two seconds.

“I watch over a hundred games a year. I’m on TV every morning for two hours, 10 hours live every day… They don’t count all the obligations that I have. I’m sitting there getting a little break and I decide to play a little Solitaire, which by the way I always do. If there’s halftime, I might go on my phone for two minutes to play Solitaire.”

Smith said he enjoys playing the game on his phone, but it doesn’t take a lot of his time when he does his job covering the league.

Stephen A. Smith admitted to playing Solitaire on social media while watching the NBA Finals

The photo of Stephen A. Smith playing the card game on his phone quickly circulated on social media. While he can deny it and tell his followers that it was an AI-generated image, the NBA analyst admitted to playing the game during Game 4.

On X (formerly Twitter), he shared the photo and said that he can multitask.

“Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals,” Smith posted. “This is going 7 games now, peeps!”

In Game 5, however, the analyst wasn’t seen playing the game by fans.