Nick Wright calls out ‘utter and complete fantasy’ from Stephen A. Smith as Jaylen Brown beef takes on new life

What began as a feud between Stephen A. Smith and Jaylen Brown may be morphing into a media beef between Smith and FS1’s Nick Wright.

Last week, Wright went in on Smith for constantly threatening to reveal private information about the athletes he is covering, likening the behavior to that of a “mob boss.” In response, Smith said Wright should be “ashamed” for making such a comparison, and insinuated that Wright was only inserting himself into the debate because of his ties to Klutch Sports and LeBron James’ camp, which is famously not a fan of Smith’s after the Lakers star’s prolonged beef with Smith last year.

While the war of words between Smith and Brown centered on how the Celtics star comported himself during and after Boston’s sad playoff exit, Wright is taking Smith to task on issues far more central to how Smith goes about his business.

And in his latest response on the What’s Wright podcast, Wright called Smith’s vague accusation that he was put up to the criticism by someone in James’ camp “utter and complete fantasy.” Wright also put the ball back in the First Take host’s court, calling for Smith to either apologize, retract or clarify the accusation.

Wright believes his audience and colleagues around the industry can vouch for the fact that his criticism of Smith was genuine, and not funneled from someone else’s camp.

“I have spent my entire career building what I do think is a rather pristine reputation for honesty with the audience, for openness about what biases I may or may not have, and for not coming to any discussion without all my cards on the table,” Wright explained.

“And I’ve managed to do it without having one of my go-to moves be, what at least I think a lot of the audience perceives as veiled threats for anyone who comes back at me, about having kompromat that I could come back with at any time. So I don’t take that sh*t lightly.”

Wright also revealed an interaction with Smith last fall in New York City, in which Smith visited a casual card game Wright was playing. The First Things First host said figures in James’ orbit were also in attendance, and that Wright addressed Smith directly in the room, asking whether they needed to discuss some of their disagreements. In Wright’s telling, Smith turned down the opportunity and appeared to be in good spirits.

But later in his response on Tuesday, Wright turned his attention to the bigger-picture implications of the conflict. Wright claimed he hopes to not address Smith or the Brown situation any further, but suggested he will not back down because he sees himself as speaking on behalf of others in the media who aren’t able to criticize Smith.

The main thrust of Wright’s problem with Smith is that he creates unnecessary conflict with athletes and makes the rest of sports media look bad.

“For a number of reasons, there are not many people in the space that feel comfortable calling out what they perceive to be bad actions by contemporaries in the space,” he explained. “And I think the playbook that I felt Stephen A. was running on Jaylen Brown was unfair to Jaylen Brown. I don’t know Jaylen Brown, I’ve never talked to Jaylen Brown … but I thought it was bullsh*t what happened to him.”

Wright mocked the idea that Smith would, in the face of criticism over his approach to commentary on First Take and his radio show, double down and respond in the same menacing, threatening manner.

Smith threatening to “expose” how Celtics officials actually feel about Brown is what led Wright to speak out. And in responding to Wright, Smith again vaguely insinuated that he would reveal the truth about Wright’s “crew” and his secret allegiances.

Wright said his track record speaks for itself, and indeed he has become a more frequent and vocal critic of Smith’s over the past year or so. Wright believes the court of public opinion will favor him if the saga continues.

“So I’ll be waiting. I won’t be holding my breath,” he said. “But an apology or a retraction or a clarification, I think, is deserved. We’ll wait and see if I get it.”