The New York Knicks festivities aren’t over just yet.
Just one day after an estimated two million people flooded the streets of Lower Manhattan to catch a glimpse of the team’s ticker-tape parade celebrating the Knicks’ first NBA title in 53 years, stars (and long-time pals) Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart, along with co-host Matt Hillman, recorded a special live edition of their popular podcast “The Roommates Show” at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden.
All proceeds to the sell-out show, which was simulcast on ESPN, benefited the Garden of Dreams Foundation, the MSG non-profit supporting children in need. And the Friday night crowd was a rowdy one, to say the least.
Brunson and Hart kicked things off by bringing the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy onstage to raucous applause and chants of “M-V-P!” for Brunson. The night also saw a number of special guests join the podcasting trio, including Knicks teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Miles “Deuce” McBride; Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony; and the co-hosts’ wives — Ali Brunson, Shannon Hart and Samara Hillman. They were all met with loud cheers on this Juneteenth evening.
Stephen A. Smith, on the other hand, was not.
The boisterous ESPN personality was greeted by a loud chorus of boos and heckling throughout his “secret guest” spot.
“Are they saying ‘Deuce?’” joked Hart as Smith came out to the boo-birds.
“They don’t know that boos are cheers,” added Smith, trying to save face. “Boos are cheers.”
The crowd had good reason to boo Smith, who infamously said that “Villanova doesn’t have a real NBA prospect on this squad” after the team won the 2016 NCAA Men’s National Championship (the team had future NBA difference-makers Brunson, Hart, Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo, to name a few).
And later, when the Knicks signed Brunson in 2022, Smith bashed the decision, exclaiming, “I’m tired y’all… JALEN BRUNSON ISN’T THE ANSWER. You creating this cap space to get Jalen Brunson? Is he KD? Is he Kawhi Leonard?… You’re selling New York on Jalen Brunson?”
And so, on Friday night, Brunson and Hart confronted Smith about his 2016 comments.
“We are now sitting here with this golden trophy there to your right,” Hart said to Smith. “Can you sit here and admit you were wrong?”
After pretending he couldn’t hear the question, Smith replied, “I’m a grown-ass man. I was beyond wrong. I’m apologizing to this brother on national television; I’m apologizing to you; I’m apologizing to the entire Knicks organization. Let me be very, very clear: I have never been more happy to be wrong in my life.”
Smith, 58, claimed that he “came out of the womb a Knicks fan” to more jeers from the crowd before rattling off a series of infamous moves by the Knicks’ organization in the 2000s and 2010s while owner James Dolan was calling the shots, and before he handed the reins to Leon Rose (and got distracted by erecting his Sphere in Las Vegas).
“So, I apologize for being wrong,” Smith continued. “But let me be very clear: if it means another championship, I would do it again.”
