Stephen A. Smith made waves this week when he boldly proclaimed Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia is "on the verge" of becoming the worst owner in basketball history. He mentioned disgraced former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and New York Knicks owner James Dolan as examples of the trajectory Ishbia is on.
Ishbia didn't like that comparison and called Smith out on Thursday night for suggesting he could end up in the same category as someone like Sterling, who is banned from the NBA for life. The Suns owner also said he expected an apology from Smith for doing so.
On Friday, Smith issued that apology.
"Mat Ishbia is absolutely right," Smith said on First Take. "I do owe him an apology because I mentioned Donald Sterling. I thought I was making it clear that I was talking about basketball. I certainly did not mean to compare him to a person that was thrown out of this league and has been widely recognized as a racist. I should not have mentioned Mat Ishbia's name in the same breath as Donald Sterling. I did not mean to do that. I was not talking about that Donald Sterling. I was talking about the Donald Sterling that would be sitting courtside heckling his own damn players and never winning anything and didn't give a damn. That's the Donald Sterling I was talking about, in terms of how ineffective he was as an owner on the basketball court... Mat Ishbia is absolutely right and for that I apologize."
"Mat Ishbia is absolutely right. I do owe him an apology, because I mentioned Donald Sterling. I thought I was making it clear I was talking about basketball. I certainly did not mean to compare him to a person that...has been widely recognized as a racist." - Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/bkeVqtCe4m
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 18, 2025
It seems the matter is now settled.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Stephen A. Smith Apologizes After Getting Called Out by Suns Owner Mat Ishbia.
