Overview
- Smith said Wednesday on his podcast that he has never in his lifetime seen an NBA team whose top three players were white win a championship and applied that claim to the Lakers’ core of Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler.
- He praised Dončić as an MVP-caliber player and credited JJ Redick’s coaching plus new owners Jared Kushner and Bob Iger for the franchise’s direction.
- Smith predicted the Lakers will make the playoffs but be eliminated in the second round, a forecast that clashes with the team’s strong early-season record and Dončić’s high scoring averages.
- Several media outlets and commentators have criticized Smith’s race-based framing as inappropriate, with public rebuttals arguing that roster construction and on-court performance, not players’ race, should determine title chances.
- The immediate test of Smith’s view will be on the court as the Lakers’ rest of the regular season and any playoff run will either undercut or vindicate his claim and shape wider debate about race in sports commentary.