Cain confronted Smith, calling his remarks about the trio of Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler "racist.""If I came out and said anywhere, anyplace, anytime that a Black quarterback couldn't win the Super Bowl, I'd be wrong, and you would also say, 'Will, that is racist,'" Cain told Smith."You wouldn't accuse me of being a racist, but you would say that statement is racist.
And I can say the same to you now when it comes to basketball."ESPN MUST HOLD STEPHEN A ACCOUNTABLE AFTER DOUBLING DOWN ON RACIST REMARKS ABOUT WHITE BASKETBALL PLAYERSSmith called Cain's characterization "fair" and said he wasn't "offended" by the criticism.Still, he doubled down on his underlying argument."I'm going to repeat it again: a trio of White players in the NBA has never led a team to a championship," Smith said.
"The top three players on a basketball team being White in the NBA has never led an NBA franchise to a championship since the Minneapolis Lakers did it between 1949 and 1955."Cain countered that a trio of Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Cooper Flagg would be more than capable of winning an NBA championship.He also pointed out that Smith's standard is conveniently narrow.Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, two White stars, led the Boston Celtics to three championships in the 1980s.
Smith's argument survives only because Hall of Famer Robert Parish, who is Black, happened to be the team's third-best player.Stephen A.Smith and Will Cain on Fox News.
(Will Cain Show, Fox News)At this point, Smith's defense amounts to little more than a technicality.Whenever he's challenged, he argues that he needs to see three White stars lead a team to a championship before he'll believe it's possible.But that's not the claim he originally made.
There's a meaningful difference between saying something hasn't happened and saying it cannot happen, as Smith initially did.As OutKick has argued, Smith's reasoning simply doesn't hold up.If a White player can be the best player on a championshi...