Pat McAfee urges Stephen A. Smith to relax: ‘We understand…your job is to judge people’

As Stephen A. Smith tried turning the NBA Finals into a battle between himself and Tyrese Haliburton, Pat McAfee is the voice of reason.

Throughout the NBA Playoffs, Smith has argued Haliburton is not a superstar. And after leading the Indiana Pacers to a 2-1 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals, Haliburton was asked about his critics and he quickly dismissed them, saying, “What do they really know about basketball?”

Stephen A. Smith, seeming hypersensitive, took that personally after assuming Haliburton was speaking directly to him. So, instead of focusing on Pacers-Thunder Thursday morning on First Take, Smith forced his name into the NBA news cycle by warning Haliburton against calling him out.

“Just in case he was talking about me, my brother, I’m not going away. I’m gonna be here awhile,” Smith warned Haliburton. “Players far more accomplished and far more superior have made their efforts trying to call me out. How has that worked out?”

Friday afternoon, McAfee attempted to make sense out of the criticism Haliburton has faced throughout the playoffs.

“Obviously, media is heard in this modern world that we’re in,” McAfee noted. “Tyrese said, ‘When these people or this media is talking about me, how much do they really know ball?’ And I think he’s saying that because it’s like, ‘These people are comparing me to pure scorers, I’m a point guard, I’m not a pure scorer.’

“So, in his mind, it kinda disqualifies the conversation, ‘You don’t even know what position I play or what my role is, so you talking about me is out of pocket.’

“Now, Stephen A. said, ‘He was talking about me.’ I don’t think Stephen A. was the only person to doubt Tyrese Haliburton. I mean, he was literally voted the most overrated player in the NBA. Stephen A. took that personally and said, ‘Hey, there’s a lot better players than you that have tried talking about me.’

“It’s like, okay, relax, dude. We understand you’ve been on TV for a long time and your job is to judge people, but it’s not just Stephen A. It’s been everybody that has counted out Tyrese Haliburton.”

We’ll wait to see of Smith took that personally too, but nothing McAfee said there was wrong. Smith needs to relax when it comes to thrusting himself into these battles with NBA players. Whether it’s Smith vs Kyrie Irving, Smith vs Kevin Durant, Smith vs LeBron James, or now Smith vs Tyrese Haliburton, he needs to relax on these feuds. Especially during the NBA Finals.

It’s one thing to stir up trouble during the dog days of the NBA season. But in the NBA Finals? Isn’t there enough content to fill two hours of programming with?

Surely, Adam Silver can’t be excited about the league’s top broadcast partner having its top talent from its top studio show attempt to spark a war of words with a player that’s two wins away from winning a championship. It’s hard to imagine Smith doing the same thing with Patrick Mahomes or Jalen Hurts during Super Bowl week. Relax.