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The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the NBA’s best teams to start the season, winning six straight games behind Luka Doncic. But Stephen A. Smith still isn’t buying them as a championship contender for a rather bizarre reason: their top players are all white.
This week, the ESPN star claimed that he wasn’t sold on the Lakers winning a championship, pointing to the race of their top players. Smith said that he has “never seen an NBA team with its top three players being white” win a championship, and that “it ain’t gonna happen” this year.
Lakers’ Hot Start
The Lakers retooled their roster around Doncic this offseason. Along with Austin Reaves, they added center Walker Kessler in a July sign-and-trade with the Utah Jazz, sending multiple future first-round picks and pick swaps to Utah.
The move has paid off so far. The Lakers have won six straight games, with Doncic putting up 32 points, eight rebounds, and 10 assists in his return to the lineup in a win over the Atlanta Hawks, per ESPN.
Smith made a similar argument about the Lakers’ big three over the summer, and the comments drew plenty of backlash at the time.
‘It ain’t gonna happen’
While the Lakers may be off to a hot start this season, Smith made it clear that he hasn’t changed his mind.
“I’ve never seen an NBA team with its top three players being white deliver a championship. It’s never happened. And I’m here to tell you, I don’t think it’s gonna happen this year,” Smith said, in a clip shared by Awful Announcing.
After running through other contenders, Smith added, “Lakers got a chance. I just don’t think it’s going to materialize into a championship.”
Smith insisted that he wasn’t making an issue of race, but was “just talking about the actual facts.” He then ran through a list of past champions, from the Larry Bird and Kevin McHale Boston Celtics to the Golden State Warriors.
“You can bring up whoever the hell you want. There has never been in my lifetime an NBA team led with its top three players being white that delivered you a championship with an abundance of brothers playing basketball,” Smith said.
Smith admitted that a title for Doncic would be big for the NBA, especially with the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028.
“It would be huge for the league. It would be huge for the Olympics. It would be huge for LA. It would be huge for everything, but it ain’t gonna happen. I can’t see it,” Smith said. “Not a team with its top three players being white dudes. I’m sorry, I think that’s controversial in some people’s eyes. It ain’t controversial in mine. I’m just telling you how it is. I’m calling it like I see it.”
Clearly, the Lakers still have plenty to prove to Smith.
The post Stephen A. Smith says Lakers can’t win a title with ‘top three players being white’ appeared first on The Comeback: Today’s Top Sports Stories & Reactions.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/stephen-smith-says-lakers-t-035033418.html
