Stephen A. Smith’s opinions and judgments have always been a tad bit controversial and the veteran NBA analyst has often backed them up with his arguments. But his latest rant on Kobe Byrant has caused quite an outrage on social media, leading fans to dig up an old video of Smith.

Recently, the 56-year-old analyst took a shot at the late Kobe Bryant on the Stephen A. Smith show. Smith went on to blast out the Black Mamba, stating that he was not the second-best player behind Michael Jordan.

Smith’s comments not only caused caused outrage but numerous fans and even entities from the NBA were furious over his point of view. This led the NBA world on X(formerly Twitter) to unearth an old video of Smith contradicting his recent statement.

In a discussion of the best comparison to Michael Jordan with a panel, Stephen A. Smith could be heard saying,

“I think Kobe is right there, one of the greatest ever. I think the greatest comparison to Michael Jordan is Kobe.”

“I know how great Kobe is, I know how phenomenal he is, etc. And I know I’m gonna hear from him after I say this ’cause he gets so upset,” he added.

For an extended period of time, Kobe Bryant was the player, who was compared the most to Michael Jordan. Both players were at the same shooting guard position and had a very identical style of playing the game. Kobe won 5 NBA Championship, compared to Jordan’s 6, who never lost a final. Talking about the stats, the Lakers star averaged 25.4 points per game in the regular season with 45% career field goal. Whereas Jordan had 30.1 points per game and 49.7% career field goals. 

Not only the stats, but the play style and the mentality of the two players were almost similar, which drew the comparisons.

However, since the untimely death of the Los Angeles Lakers legend, many have changed their outlook on Bryant. After Bryant’s passing, the narrative around Kobe and his overall ranking in the GOAT debate surely has changed. 

The NBA community standing up for Kobe Bryant

Stephen A. Smith’s hot and controversial takes are his bread and butter. He is known to disrupt a panel discussion with his outrageous opinions which is why ESPN has him embedded into their multiple shows and programs.

But his recent views on Kobe had former NBA player Matt Barnes livid. Though Barnes did not lose his cool, he made sure to drop a comment on Smith’s official Instagram post, stating a distinction as to why NBA players chose Bryant over others.

In the old video dug up by fans, Stephen A. Smith went on to mention that he would get a call from Bryant after his recent comments on the show. And that is exactly what former NBA player Rashad McCants went on to point out.

On one of the recent episodes of Gil’s Arena, McCants went off on Stephen A. Smith’s latest comments, stating he would not have said this if Bryant were still alive. Fortunately for the Black Mamba, the NBA community and his former teammates do seem to have his back even in his absence.