An eight-year-old version of Stephen A. Smith came back to haunt him.
Four years into his tenure as one of the co-hosts of ESPN’s First Take, Smith made one of his trademark bold statements live.
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The answer in question occurred on the day of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game between No. 2 Villanova and No. 1 North Carolina.
“Villanova has no real NBA prospect on this roster,” Smith said claimed.
The Wildcats would win the championship 77-74.
Not only did they win, but four members of their team currently play in the NBA.
Ironically, not only are they all still playing in the NBA eight years later, but after Mikal Bridges was traded by the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, they all played for Smith’s beloved New York Knicks.
Bridges joins Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo on the Knicks roster – with all but DiVincenzo having played in the aforementioned NCAA final.
In exchange for 2022 NBA All-Defensive First-Teamer Bridges and a 2026 second-round pick, the Nets received Bojan Bogdanovic as well as a number of picks, according to the NBA.
Unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031, an unprotected pick swap in 208, a top-four protected first-rounder in 2025 (via the Milwaukee Bucks), and a second-rounder in 2025 were all sent to the Nets .
As for the slightly aged version of Smith, she quickly resurfaced on X, formerly known as Twitter, where she got a lot of responses from fans.
“First take or worst take?” asked a fan.
“Stephen L, as always,” said a second.
“Wow, that plan backfired,” commented another.
While a fourth added: “No one predicted they would be as good as they are now haha, let’s be a little fair.”
The trade apparently went down a storm with the former Villanova stars.
On Tuesday night, Hart shared a print Screen of the four looking delighted on a Facetime call together.
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Meanwhile, Brunson simply tweeted“Oh my God,” right after the news first broke.
As for Smith, he was ecstatic about the news during Wednesday’s episode of First Take.
In fact, he went so far as to state, “The only team I definitely see above them is the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics.
“Anyone else has work to do, because the New York Knicks baby, the culture, the fire, the tenacity, the defense, all those things are here.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
