Jay Williams blasts Stephen A. Smith for ‘asinine' Giannis Antetokounmpo take
Jay Williams and Stephen A. Smith traded barbs over their 'asinine' points in a back-and-forth on 'First Take,' which stemmed from comments Smith made about Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The former NBA point guard took issue with Smith calling Antetokounmpo an 'underachiever' last week, leading Williams to call it 'one of your worst takes' and that it 'was horrible.'
'I think we really need to do a better job of reframing some of these conversations,' Williams said on Monday's episode. 'If you were to say that the franchise, the Milwaukee Bucks, have underachieved or are the biggest underachievers with the talent of Giannis, fair. But a guy who has a 50-point closeout game, a guy who has never chased any of these dream-team scenarios, a guy who is a Finals MVP, a guy who is a multi-time All-Star, All-NBA, all everything, global face of the game.'
3 Stephen A. Smith (l.) and Jay Williams (r.) on 'First Take' on June 16, 2025.
YouTube/NBA on ESPN
Williams noted how Antetokounmpo brought a championship to Milwaukee a mere four years ago.
'To call him an underachiever is just, I think, an asinine comment,' he said.
'Having the seat that you have, having the career that you've had, we gotta frame these conversations, 'cause there's no way in hell anybody who watches basketball, who knows the level of greatness that comes along with Giannis, would say that he's an underachiever.'
3 Giannis Antetokounmpo holds the Larry O'Brien trophy and the MVP trophy after the Bucks' NBA championship win on July 20, 2021.
Getty Images
3 Stephen A. Smith (l.) talks to Malika Andrews (r.) during 'NBA Countdown' before Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City on June 16, 2025.
NBAE via Getty Images
Smith, in his retort, argued that he had called Antetokounmpo 'one of the greatest players to have ever lived' while firing back at Williams.
'I'm entitled to call your take asinine,' Smith said. 'As a matter of fact, it's a bit worse than that because you're ill-informed, because clearly you didn't listen to what I had to say. Maybe you were stuck in traffic, maybe you were negotiating another business deal, maybe you were doing another one of your shows because you are a very, very busy and successful man. But you didn't listen to my full take.
'I specifically stated that Giannis was one of the greatest players to have ever lived, and Giannis is phenomenal. Giannis is going to go down as one of the all-time greats. But when you're that great and you have one championship on your resume, people are not going to look at you the same.'
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