The Los Angeles Lakers just traded for Walker Kessler. On paper, it fills a massive hole. He blocks shots, rebounds, and gives Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves a real defensive anchor. The cost was steep — two unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, plus pick swaps in 2028 and 2030, per Shams Charania. Kessler is also expected to sign a four-year, $130 million extension.
But the basketball part of this deal isn’t what everyone is talking about.
Stephen A. Smith made sure of that.
Stephen A. went there and he didn’t apologize
On ESPN, Smith looked at the Lakers’ projected top three — Doncic, Reaves, Kessler — and let it fly.
“SOMEBODY HAD TO SAY IT. So I’m saying it. Your three TOP PLAYERS ARE WHITE DUDES. REALLY? This ain’t golf. This ain’t baseball. Hell, it ain’t even soccer. And we got a whole bunch of brothers ON TEAM USA. WHAT Y’ALL THINK THIS IS? IT’S BASKETBALL.”
He followed up with a blunt prediction: “You ain’t going anywhere being led by three White dudes in today’s generation of basketball.”
The internet did what the internet does. Some fans agreed with the general point — that this roster looks unusual in a league where roughly three-quarters of players are Black. Others called the comments outdated and argued race shouldn’t factor into evaluating a team’s chances. The jokes rolled in too. Fans started calling the Lakers “Snowtime,” a play on the franchise’s old “Showtime” era.
Former players split on whether race matters
Kenyon Martin backed Smith’s take on Gil’s Arena. “Y’all lose in the first round either way it goes,” Martin said. “You play four White boys, you ain’t gonna beat nobody. I want to know what team has been successful with that many on one roster.” Bomani Jones added his own jab: the Lakers “ain’t been this white since they left Minneapolis.”
But Jeff Teague fired back on the Club 520 Podcast. “You wildin’,” Teague said. “People would’ve been tight if they would’ve been like, ‘How are you gonna win in soccer with five Black guys on the field?’ Or, ‘How are you gonna win with a Black quarterback?’ It would’ve gone crazy.”
Teague’s point was simple: if the conversation was reversed, it wouldn’t fly. A lot of fans agreed with him.
Smith doubled down and pointed to history
When the backlash hit, Smith didn’t back off. He clarified that he wasn’t saying White players can’t be stars. He was asking a specific question: when has a team with three White players as its top guys actually won a title?
It’s not a clean argument. Nikola Jokic just led the Denver Nuggets to a championship in 2023. Dirk Nowitzki carried the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Larry Bird’s Celtics won three rings in the 1980s with Kevin McHale and Danny Ainge in the starting lineup, as USA Today noted.
None of those teams look exactly like this Lakers roster. But they prove the question isn’t as simple as Smith made it sound.
The real problem might not be race at all
Former Laker Markieff Morris weighed in with a different concern. He said the Lakers are “gonna be soft as hell” and that Doncic needs “a few dogs in that West.” That might end up being the bigger issue than any debate about identity.
On paper, the Lakers got better. Doncic is still an elite offensive engine. Reaves has developed into one of the league’s better secondary scorers. Kessler fixes the rim protection problem that has haunted this team for years. But the Western Conference is loaded, and chemistry isn’t automatic.
Smith’s comments turned a straightforward trade into a national conversation about race and roster construction. But once the ball goes up in October, none of that matters. Only wins and losses will decide whether this experiment works.
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