Stephen A. Smith controversially alleged NBA players have safety concerns about playing for the Grizzlies, but Bill Simmons is proof that not all superstars feel unsafe in Memphis.
On Tuesday morning’s First Take, Smith was breaking down whether the Memphis Grizzlies’ trade of Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic signals it’s time to similarly move on from Morant. And during the segment, Smith claimed that NBA players don’t want to play in Memphis due to safety concerns.
“It’s a great sports town, great fans, great people,” Smith said. “But there’s an element there where cats like Jimmy Butler and others don’t feel like it’s the safest environment. I’m talking to the local authorities in Memphis. You gotta clean some of that stuff up because it’s dissuasive to NBA players. They have talked about it. I know, they’ve told me.”
The take drew backlash from Morant and others who live in Memphis, including Chris Vernon from The Ringer. Vernon joined The Bill Simmons Podcast shortly after Smith dropped his Memphis report and had a strong retort.
“I like Memphis as a city,” Simmons said. “I didn’t like some of the stuff that was out there this week, that wasn’t nice. What was that stuff about ‘superstars don’t feel safe in Memphis’ or whatever the f*** that was? What was that? Where did that come from?”
It came from Stephen A. Smith. And while Vernon was dismissive of the take, saying national media members from big markets often belittle small markets, Smith’s assessment of Memphis still resonated differently.
“What Stephen A. Smith did was so damaging and irresponsible. We fight uphill in Memphis against the perception of, right?” Vernon said. “I have been here for 25 years, there has never been a player that I know of that has ever asked for a trade, outside of Pau Gasol when the team was gonna go into tank mode.”
“Tony Allen lives here, Zach Randolph lives here, Mike Miller lives here, Tayshaun Prince lives here,” Vernon said of former Grizzlies players. “Never once have I heard of them being the victim of some kind of violence. What made me so angry about that whole thing was, yes, Memphis has problems. The crime statistics are the crime statistics. The idea that you’re saying players don’t want to go to Memphis because it’s dangerous, have you ever heard that said about any other city, any other sports market, any other team ever?”
Simmons said he spent about five or six days in Memphis while covering the Western Conference Finals for ESPN in 2013. And he didn’t appear to experience the safety concerns that Smith claims NBA players are relaying to him.
“I loved it. I power walked everywhere. The food, I probably had to power walk cause of the food. But no, it’s great,” Simmons said while applauding Vernon’s rebuttal to Smith.
As Vernon noted, every city has areas that are less appealing than others. But, it seems reasonable to assume that most NBA players live in suburbs where they can build a mansion to their liking. For those who opt to live in the city they play in, it’s likely in a more expensive area where they can find a sizable penthouse to their liking. And if they’re not, they certainly have the option to do so.