Stephen A. Smith draws loud applause from First Take’s live crowd as ESPN star declares: ‘We’ve got to stop this PC thing’

STEPHEN A. Smith lashed out at Team USA for leaving two high-profile WNBA rookies from its women’s basketball roster.

The First Take host’s speech drew loud applause from fans as they hosted the popular ESPN sports talk show live at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago on Friday.

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Joined on stage by co-host Molly Qerim and guest Chance The Rapper, Smith went from discussing the growth of women’s basketball to catching the attention of the United States Olympic team.

“Marketability is important. Whether it was Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese right now, I’m watching Team USA at the Olympics and it’s not lost on me that Puerto Rico and China or whoever was playing was drawing over 20,000, but Team USA drew about 13,000,” Smith said.

“I said to myself, ‘Hey, this wouldn’t be the case if Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese were on Team USA.

“‘I bet they would have over 20,000 people in attendance.'”

The game in question was the USA’s opening group win against Japan on July 29.

The 102-76 victory attracted 13,040 fans, which, across two rounds of group stage play, remains the lowest-attended game of the event so far.

The silver lining for the U.S. is that their second group game, an 87-74 win over Belgium on Aug. 1, drew a crowd of 25,044.

Smith later added his argument, specifically in regards to Chicago Sky forward and All-Star Reese.

“Angel Reese, she could be Rookie of the Year, she’s special,” he said, prompting a round of applause from the audience.

Smith went on to call Reese “a walking double-double,” before returning to his previous argument.

“Damn, stop apologizing, commercialization is important,” he reiterated.

“And if you can have that girl on the team, make sure you do so, because it will raise the popularity of the sport and a rising tide lifts all boats.

“We have to stop with all this PC stuff. The girl should be on Team USA.”

Recently, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who was part of the committee that selected the players for Team USA, appeared to doubt the decision not to select Indiana Fever All-Star Clark.

“As a committee member, you are in charge of putting together the best team,” Staley said NBC.

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“Caitlin is just a newcomer to the WNBA. She wasn’t playing bad, but she wasn’t playing like she’s playing now.

“If we had to do it all over again, the way she’s playing, she would highly consider making the team.”

As for Reese, in July, Staley revealed that the Sky star was her favorite to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year award.

“At this time… Today is Angel. Without a doubt,” she said TMZ.

However, Staley admitted that it’s a close race between Reese and Clark, adding that she feels like “Caitlin is coming.”

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