Kevin Garnett urged Stephen A. Smith to make peace with LeBron James and work with him to bring a group to President Donald Trump.
The former NBA star told Smith he could help secure a meeting to discuss an agenda for the Black community.
He made the pitch on the KG & Stephen A Smith Show. “You can get us in the room,” Garnett told his co-host.
The former NBA star wanted the two to agree on what they would bring to Trump before approaching him.
He called for a group with a common agenda and argued that the ongoing dispute was giving people something to watch while doing little for the people he wanted them to represent.
Garnett said he saw a lack of representation for the Black community and wanted to bring people together to address it.
He urged them to put the energy they had spent talking about the dispute into getting people with the same priorities to the table.
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His appeal included the warning that “this ain’t the time to be fighting” while people needed to work together.
The dispute goes back to an on-court confrontation about 18 months earlier, when the NBA star took issue with the commentator’s coverage of his son, Bronny James. The ESPN analyst has said he still respects the NBA star’s accomplishments and holds no hard feelings.
Smith left the first move to James, saying “If he spoke to me, I’ll speak to him” on the show.
The analyst agreed with the sentiment behind Garnett’s appeal and said he would be willing to help if the player needed anything from him.
He remained reluctant to initiate a conversation because he believed the NBA star had mistreated him over a period of years.
“I am a guy that’s hesitant to roll up on a guy that I think has been disrespectful and has mistreated me primarily behind my back, but certainly at least once to my face spanning years,” the analyst said.
Smith’s Lakers prediction centers on the three players leading the team in scoring.
Los Angeles had the NBA’s best record at 10-2 at the time of the report, with Luka Doncic averaging 39.3 points per game.
Austin Reaves had put up 25.3 per game in a larger role, while Walker Kessler ranked third on the team with 14.9. Speaking on his own show, the analyst doubted a team led by three white players would win the championship.
The analyst said he would be shocked if the Lakers made it out of the second round.
"I've never seen an NBA team with its top three players being white deliver a championship. It's never happened, and I'm here to tell you: I don't think it's gonna happen this year." – Stephen A. Smith on the Lakers pic.twitter.com/gg2xor7wz9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 11, 2026
He claimed he had never seen an NBA team win a title with three white players as its top three and predicted Los Angeles would fall short of the 2027 championship.
The remark revisited an argument he made over the summer, when he used the phrase “White Boy Central” for the Lakers. At the time, he asked when three white players had led an NBA team to a title.
He contrasted basketball with golf, baseball and soccer as he questioned how far the team could go. The summer remarks drew a strong reaction online.
Smith still described the club as a good team and singled out JJ Redick and his staff for praise. His praise extended to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, whom he identified as the leaders of the new ownership.
3 WHITE DUDES?! The Lakers Really Think THIS Can Win a Championship?
👇 Watch the full episode. Link in the comments. pic.twitter.com/jTQ2vrDV7C
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 1, 2026
Iger is a friend and mentor to the commentator, who likened the executive to Michael Jordan. The analyst called him the greatest executive he had known and said he expected a bright future for the franchise.
Several Western Conference rivals factored into his assessment. He pointed to Oklahoma City’s injuries and said Denver looked worn down even with Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray leading the team.
The analyst also called Minnesota a team to take seriously. He noted that Doncic had troubled Minnesota in the playoffs before.
Even with those openings in the West, the commentator gave Los Angeles a chance at the title and still expected another team to win it.
On ESPN’s First Take, Smith said he had heard that Knicks owner James Dolan was upset because players were reluctant to go to the White House after winning the 2026 NBA Finals.
He stressed that he had heard the talk around New York City and Madison Square Garden and had yet to hear directly from the players.
The analyst said he did not know how much truth there was to the account. He suggested that some or most of the players might prefer to skip the visit and that Dolan, whom he described as close to Trump, wanted to go.
It was the team’s first championship in 53 years. Smith said he worried the owner would spend years touting the title without adding another.
The commentator called Dolan “a walking embodiment of petulance” to illustrate why he found the account plausible. He also said he did not “give a damn” about the dispute over a potential visit.
Dolan had invited Trump to Game 3 at Madison Square Garden, where the president watched the Knicks in the Finals. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals game in person.