Stephen A. Smith was photographed and videoed playing Solitaire on his phone during Game 4 of the NBA Finals -- and proceeded to get dragged on social media about it.
The ESPN personality was in Indianapolis for the game -- won by the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-104 over the Indiana Pacers -- when several social media accounts caught him playing on his phone.
“How can you have all of these opinions while you’re playing solitaire instead of watching the game @stephenasmith?,” asked Kimberly, who identifies as “Childless Cat Lady.”
Smith responded to the Legion Hoops account -- which also posted the photo -- in real time, writing:
“Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!"
Smith also posted a shot of his hand in the Solitaire game.
Kevin Durant called Smith out on his Instagram story, writing, “CMON STEVE.”
Some other folks on social media took shots at him as well.
“lmao why even are you there if you there to play solitaire,” one person commented.
“People wish they got to watch an NBA Finals game live and this guy playing solitaire,” wrote a second.
“Cant wait for his in depth post game analysis,” said a third.
Ironically, this incident happened the same day that Molly Qerim told Smith to close his laptop during “First Take” because the camera showed his text messages on TV.
Smith said he wouldn’t do it.
All in all, it’s been a bit of a rough week for Smith.
During an interview with newly minted French Open champion Coco Gauff, Smith couldn’t understand why Gauff is ranked No. 2 in the world behind Roland Garros runner-up Aryna Sabalenka, suggesting he thought Gauff should be No. 1.
“I don’t think she should be that way now, not after this loss, it should be you,” he told Gauff
WTA rankings are determined by points accumulated in tournament play. They’re not subjective. Sabalenka currently leads Gauff by nearly 3,500 ranking points.
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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media. You may follow him on Twitter @AdamZagoria and check out his Website at ZAGSBLOG.com.