Stephen A. Smith Ripped By NBA Fans Over His Wild Comment During Game 5 of NBA Finals

Andy Nesbitt | Jun 17, 2025

Stephen A. Smith continues to anger fans during the NBA Finals. / @ESPN

The 2025 NBA Finals have been pretty darn entertaining thus far, with the Pacers and Thunder each doing everything they can to try to win their first championship. Oklahoma City is now one win away from doing just that after beating Indiana in Game 5 on Monday night.

While the action on the court has been a ton of fun, one person who has not played in any of the games but has certainly made his voice and his solitaire skills, heard way too often has been the opposite of that.

We're talking, of course, about ESPN's Stephen A. Smith. When he's not playing games on his phone, he's been making a lot of bad arguments about the Finals. His latest weird take came during halftime Monday night when he said he was glad Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton was injured.

"Haliburton has looked awful and I'm glad he's injured," Smith said. "I'm not saying I'm glad he's injured, but I'm glad we got that as a rational."

"[Tyrese] Haliburton has looked awful and I'm glad he's injured. I'm not saying I'm glad he's injured, but I'm glad we got that as a rational."

Stephen A. Smith on Tyrese Haliburton's play in the 1st half 🗣️pic.twitter.com/UzLjGpK2fg

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) June 17, 2025

Fans sounded off on Smith after that:

I’m tired of crapping on Stephen A. Smith’s coverage, but he keeps asking for it.

He’s bad for the game. He’s bad for the league. He’s just … bad. https://t.co/O8Y3E2YpCi

— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) June 17, 2025

This is a joke. Horrible coverage leads to uninterested real fans of the NBA and giving casual fans dumb ass opinions https://t.co/Y6Ybr7KApi

— Growl Towel Central (@GTC901) June 17, 2025

OK nevermind go back to solitarie, it's cool, we prefer that. https://t.co/H2nMeCaXRh

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) June 17, 2025

I want $20 mil a year to deliver terrible takes and be able to play solitaire all game every game like he does @espn https://t.co/0j6kTAmz6b

— Cam Whittaker (@cam_whit30) June 17, 2025

WTF is this? @stephenasmith you have been AWFUL the last 6months. https://t.co/iKlrmXFgyC

— Blvck (@Mpho__M) June 17, 2025

“I’m glad he’s injured” is probably the worst thing he’s said about a player https://t.co/Ut2Q0q40Ad

— O’Neal (@Cleveland_Jr765) June 17, 2025

Now we have an official member of @espn saying that he is glad a player is injured.

Yes I understand the context, but that doesnt change the fact he flat out said he is glad a player is injured. Just so happens to be the player who took out HIS BELOVED TEAM in the playoffs. https://t.co/Z6LllyQc2h

— Timmy Stahlberg (@TimStahlbergTSB) June 17, 2025

Game 6 is Thursday night in Indianapolis.

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