This July, the Los Angeles Lakers closed the LeBron James chapter—well, LeBron James chose to go to Philadelphia—and officially ushered in the Luka Dončić era.
The Lakers acquired center Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz and re-signed Austin Reaves, forming a Big 3, if you dare call it that, of Dončić, Kessler, and Reaves.
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At the time, Stephen A. Smith dubbed the new-look Lakers “White Dude Central,” which predictably drew strong reactions across sports media.
Los Angeles is off to a scorching 10-2 start to the 2026-27 NBA season, led by Dončić averaging a league-best 39.3 points per game. Despite that, Smith remains skeptical.
During Tuesday’s episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show on SiriusXM, a Floridian named Andrew called in and expressed his shock at how white the Lakers are before asking for Smith’s opinion on the team’s legitimacy.
“Let me say a couple of things. No. 1, I’m always rooting for the Lakers, never against them, because I love being in L.A. I just don’t want to live there because of Gavin Newsom and the high damn taxes,” said Smith, who can’t resist political punditry these days. “But I love L.A. No. 2, Luka Doncic is special. Right now, if we were to vote on a league MVP, he would win it.”
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Smith similarly lauded Lakers head coach JJ Redick and new franchise ownership led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger before placing a hard ceiling on this season’s title hopes in Los Angeles.
“The bottom line is that I think the Lakers are in good hands, and the future is gonna be incredibly, incredibly bright,” Smith said. “But with that being said, I do not think that they’re getting past the second round. I’d be shocked if they did. I am on the record being controversially because I’ve never seen an NBA team with its top players being white deliver a championship. It’s never happened. And I’m here to tell you I don’t think it’s going to happen this year.”
Smith left the door open for Los Angeles, given the Oklahoma City Thunder’s injuries and the Denver Nuggets’ slow start, but he held firm that the Lakers won’t win the championship this season.
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Andrew, the caller, clarified that he doesn’t care about race and didn’t want to come across as “the white guy calling about the white team.”
“Listen, I’m not caring about it, either,” Smith said. “I’m just talking about logistics—I’m just talking about the actual facts.”
Smith rattled off a litany of dynastic and historic NBA teams and each one’s makeup of stars before reiterating his point.
“You can bring up whoever the hell you want,” Smith said. “There has never been, in my lifetime, an NBA team led with its top three players being white that delivered you a championship when an abundance of brothers [are] playing basketball. That hasn’t happened. And I’m here to tell you it ain’t gonna happen. I can’t see it coming.”
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Smith continued:
“I understand that there are people who think otherwise, who wish otherwise. The Olympics are coming to L.A. in 2028. Could you imagine, as the world stage, considering the global, iconic brand that the NBA is, if Luka Doncic somehow managed to win an NBA championship? That would be huge for the league. It would be huge for the Olympics; it would be huge for L.A.; it would be huge for everything. But it ain’t gonna happen. I can’t see it.
“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: I have never in my lifetime seen an NBA team with its top three players being white win a championship. It has never happened, and it ain’t gonna happen.”
An awkward beat passed before we all realized Andrew from Florida was still on the line. “Hey, if it does, it does, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Andrew said. “Either way, we’re just gonna watch.”
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Now that’s the hard-hitting sports analysis we can all get behind.
The post Stephen A. Smith skeptical of Lakers’ title chances because top three players are white appeared first on Awful Announcing.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
