ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith publicly responded to President Donald Trump after the president commented on Smith’s intelligence and suggested he lacked what it takes to run for office, according to The Hill. The exchange came in the days following Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City.
Trump made his remarks after a reporter asked him to respond to Smith’s earlier on-air comment that if the New York Knicks lost, he would blame the president. Trump called Smith a “nice guy” but said that anyone wanting to run for president needed “a certain aptitude” and claimed Smith does not have a “high IQ.”
Smith fired back the following day on ESPN’s First Take. “You wanna talk about IQ,” Smith said. “I could put my IQ against yours. I got something even better, I could ask you why you been running from me for the past year since I asked you to talk to me. I could ask you to debate me since you think you’re that dude. We could go a myriad of ways.”
Smith’s broader criticism of Trump’s presence at the NBA Finals
The IQ exchange was apparently part of a wider back-and-forth between Smith and Trump that began before and during Game 3. Trump attended the game at MSG, seated in a private box alongside Knicks owner James Dolan, according to reports. Smith appeared to criticize Trump on First Take over what he described as significant traffic disruption in the area around MSG ahead of the game.
“From 6th Avenue to 9th Avenue, you had people complaining about how hectic it was, because this barricade, this blockage, this wall that was being built by folks for the garden because of the climate that existed,” Smith said. “Somehow, some way, it was there to protect him.”
Smith also reacted to online clips that appeared to show Trump with his eyes closed during the game. “I’m not going to accuse him of snoring because I wasn’t in earshot,” Smith said. “The brother wasn’t awake.” He further noted that Trump had previously used the nickname “Sleepy Joe” for former President Joe Biden and asked, “Well, what should we call you. Because you weren’t awake.”
Smith also argued that Trump, a Queens native who was alive when the Knicks last won the NBA championship in 1973, should have understood what a potential title would mean to New York City residents. “He knows exactly what New Yorkers have been through and he didn’t care,” Smith said. The Knicks lost Game 3 and were set to face the San Antonio Spurs again in New York on Wednesday.
Trump, for his part, told reporters after the game that while he considers the NBA “a little left-wing,” he thought it was “great entertainment.” He was also reportedly met with boos from some attendees during the playing of the National Anthem at the game. Trump has also faced criticism over election-related accusations, having accused Democrats of attempting to steal the California governor and Los Angeles mayor primaries.
Smith also acknowledged Trump’s comment calling him a “nice guy,” adding: “I appreciated him calling me a nice guy, till you tug at me a little bit, then after that I’ve got to show my other side.” CBS News national correspondent Robert Costa reported earlier that Smith is “moving closer” to a 2028 presidential campaign, comparing the current moment to the early stages of Trump’s own political rise.
Smith told Costa in an interview set to air on CBS Sunday Morning: “I will confess to you, I’m giving strong consideration to being on that debate stage for 2027” and running for the Democratic nomination, adding, “I’ve got this year coming up 2026, to think about it, to study, to know the issues.”
Trump had previously expressed support for the idea of Smith running, calling in during a NewsNation town hall last May to say, “I love watching him. He’s got great entertainment skills, which is very important. People watch him.”
Smith said he was “aghast” by Trump’s apparent endorsement and suggested he interpreted it as Trump believing Smith would be easy to defeat. “I wasn’t looking for any kind of endorsement from anybody, especially him,” Smith said. Any potential Democratic candidate entering the 2028 race would also have to contend with broader economic concerns, as Trump’s jobs data vs. shrinking paychecks has become a growing point of debate heading into the next election cycle.
Published: Jun 10, 2026 08:47 pm