Add Stephen A Smith to the injury report.
The long-time “First Take” host was noticeably absent from the show’s intro Friday morning, where host Molly Qerim, joined by NBA analysts Tim Legler and Monica McNutt, delivered a message at the start of the program on Smith’s status.
Smith is serving as a coach in Friday night’s Rising Stars Game, but according to Qerim, the unapologetic ESPN host suffered an ankle injury while playing basketball with Dallas Cowboys star edge rusher Micah Parsons, who will also be competing in the game.
Qerim said that Smith had been playing basketball with Parsons and had to be sent to the hospital after the linebacker crossed him over.
Smith, however, eventually enjoyed the show and denied such claims, going as far as calling Qerim a liar.
“Ladies and gentlemen in America, Molly Qerim is a pathological liar. That did not happen to me,” Smith said of Parsons crossing him over and injuring him. “She made the whole thing up. Crossed over by a Cowboy? By Micah Parsons?”
Smith later told his side of story, which differed from Qerim’s version.
“They had the practice last night and Shannon [Sharpe] didn’t show up, so I go there ’cause I got to scout my team, ’cause I got to see who I’m a play, who I’m a put on the bench, ’cause I’m not losing this game tonight, okay?” Smith said.
“And the next thing you know, that damn Micah Parsons is on the basketball acting like he’s trying to sack quarterbacks and stuff and pushing people around, so after that, they were sitting up there and he and I were shooting around, shooting against one another, and there was sweat on the floor, and literally I was about to pull up, just shoot it, I literally bust my ass, I mean, feet flying in the air and everything, BOW… it was like I was sliding in the third base.”
Qerim responded, “You should’ve stuck with my story,” implying that she didn’t believe his claim.
Smith plans to remain as coach in the game.
Smith was seen taking jumpshots at All-Star Weekend, accompanied by Chris Matthews, known as Lethal Shooter, a shooting coach who is social media famous.
He also talked trash to Sharpe on Thursday.
In the Celebrity Game, Smith will be coaching a team consisting of, among others, Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud, recently signed Phoenix Mercury star Natasha Cloud, long-time NBA veteran Ron Artest, now going by the name Metta Sandiford-Artest, and AJ McLean from the Backstreet Boys.
Sharpe’s team features Parsons, Seattle Storm scoring machine Jewell Loyd, Actor Quincy Isaiah, who portrayed Magic Johnson in HBO’s “Winning Time” and award-winning musician Anuel AA.
The game will air on Friday on ESPN at 7 p.m., and Parsons injuring his opposing coach with a crossover is probably all the hype they’ll need.