While other squads in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft were stacking potential stars and solid foundational pieces all over the place on Thursday night, not everyone left Brooklyn happy. Or, really, with anyone notable for next season.
In some of the least surprising news of the evening, one of those empty-handed squads happened to be the New York Knicks. After a confusing trade whirlwind with some other teams, New York ended up with precisely no actual new players — only future lottery picks.
This result didn’t go over well with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who also happens to be a big Knicks fan. His exasperated reaction to the Knickerbockers’ strange wheeling and dealing said everything:
.@stephenasmith's face says it all 😅pic.twitter.com/uKnBihJNcO
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 24, 2022
this makes a magnificent gif pic.twitter.com/DiCpcsXTXk
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) June 24, 2022
Is that Spike Lee consoling him? Cool!
Smith wasn’t done. Once he composed himself and gathered his thoughts, he let the Knicks absolutely have it:
Stephen A. Smith is fed up. 😂
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) June 24, 2022
Phew. What a fiery rant. Let’s rewind the first part of that in full:
“Shot blockers, drafted. We’ve seen athletes drafted. We’ve seen shooters drafted. We’ve seen point guards drafted. We’ve seen off-guards drafted. We’ve seen everything drafted … but the Knicks didn’t draft anybody!”
Ah, such is the tragic life of a Knicks fan.
