ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith Gets No Support in Monica McNutt Dispute as Matt Barnes and Co. Shares Honest Take

Monica McNutt will be a name to look out for in the upcoming episodes of First Take on ESPN as her bold reply to Stephen A. Smith on WNBA coverage was received with much appreciation. In a heated battle about the WNBA’s treatment of Caitlin Clark, McNutt dropped the mic on Smith, by calling out his show for not covering women’s basketball a few years back. With already the majority taking McNutt’s side, two ex-NBA veterans have also joined the bandwagon now. 

Smith believes First Take covers the most about women’s basketball. But McNutt thinks it’s only because of Caitlin Clark that Smith and ESPN are shifting coverage toward the WNBA. She said, “Stephen A., respectfully, with your platform, you could have been doing this three years ago if you wanted,” leaving the hosts speechless. 

Matt Barnes discussed the event with his former teammate Stephen Jackson on their podcast. The latter revealed, “We always say, ‘Can’t nobody really speak about the NBA better than we can‘. Right? She [McNutt] is a female basketball player that’s been there and done it. It’s kind of hard to go against what she’s saying. She made a point. A lot of times, people talking loud don’t make you right… She was right, you could’ve talked this three years ago.” Looks like McNutt’s case is getting stronger by the day. 

Along with the above support to McNutt, Jackson and Barnes had a message for the men out there, who want to support WNBA and female hoopers. 

A request from Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes for men who want to support the WNBA

Jackson’s first point to men was to stop overtalking women. He said, “Just because you feel like you’re a man, you overtalk these women and feel like it’s certain stuff they can’t say, and that’s not right.” Jackson believes the opinion about the WNBA should first come from the female hoopers. 

“Who can tell you more about it than the women that experienced it? The women who played it are starting to feel the same way we feel about a lot of people that haven’t played the game and have big opinions about it,” circling back to Stephen. A. Smith. 

Skip Bayless, Stephen. A. Smith, and Shannon Sharpe are a few analysts who have not played professional basketball but are the top analysts on ESPN. NBA players haven’t often entertained opinions from them. Now it seems the women ballers might increasingly find themselves in similar situations. 

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video: