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Stephen A. Smith Accuses Major U.S. City Of Being Unsafe

Originally posted on The Spun | By Chris Rosvoglou | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 5:15 PM ET

For the third time in just the past week, ESPN's Stephen A. Smith has gone viral in the NBA community.

Roughly a week ago, Smith made headlines for calling out Tyrese Haliburton. This came after the Indiana Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. By the time Game 4 came around, Smith received criticism for playing solitaire on his phone while at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Fast forward to this Tuesday, and Smith is receiving pushback for suggesting an NBA city is unsafe for players. He made this comment during a "First Take" segment about Ja Morant's future with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Smith claims NBA players have told him they don't feel safe in Memphis.

"The people in Memphis, it’s a great sports town, great fans, great people, but there’s an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don’t feel like it’s the safest environment," Smith said. "I’m talking to the local authorities in Memphis. You’ve got to clean some of that stuff up because it’s dissuasive to NBA players. They have talked about it. I know, they’ve told me. That’s all I’m saying."

It's certainly possible players shared that information with Smith, we know for sure that Morant isn't one of his sources.

Earlier this afternoon, Morant called out Smith for dissing Memphis on national television.

"Talkin bout the grizz more than the finals wit these [cap emoji] ahh sources," Morant wrote on X. "Instead of focusing on the performances we seen from jdub/shai , tj/siakam, how this series is going. we say sumn negative about a city/team on a national level."

Smith has not yet replied to Morant's comments. Perhaps he's saving his response for Wednesday's episode of "First Take."

This article first appeared on The Spun and was syndicated with permission.

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