Stephen A. Smith has fired back after Donald Trump questioned his intelligence following the recent Knicks game in Madison Square Garden. The ESPN analyst responded with a series of sharp remarks against the president. He also mocked Trump for seemingly falling asleep during the game.
Stephen A. Smith reacts to Donald Trump’s low IQ diss
Stephen A. Smith has made a fiery response to Donald Trump‘s recent jab at his intelligence. While leaving MSG after attending Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday, the president said that one needs “a certain aptitude to run for president — you need a high IQ.” Trump went on to mention “nice guy” Smith, saying that he lacks the necessary intelligence. “I’m not sure he has that,” he said, adding, “I don’t think he does, actually.”
Smith reacted to the attack on First Take on Tuesday morning, saying, “You want to talk about IQ?” The ESPN host fired back, “I’d put my IQ up against yours any day of the week.” At one point, Smith also referred to the viral video capturing Trump appearing to doze off during the Monday game. “I’m not going to accuse him of snoring because I wasn’t in earshot,” the ESPN analyst mocked. “The brother wasn’t awake,” he added.
Stephen A Smith responds to Donald Trump calling him a low IQ individual on First Take:
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod ?? (@big_business_) June 9, 2026
“You wanna talk about IQ, I could say I could put my IQ against yours, I got something even better I could ask you why you been running from me for the past year since I asked you to talk to… https://t.co/iI1DpLjkRb pic.twitter.com/Edon6R1fzF
Smith continued his attack on Trump, stating, “I could go one better. I could ask you why you’ve been running for me the last year, since I wanted to talk to you. I could ask you to debate me since you think you’re that dude, okay? We can go a myriad of ways with all of this.”
The political commentator went on to blame Trump for the New York Knicks’ 115-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday. “You’re actually talking about coming back for Game 4,” Smith said, adding, “Why would you do that? It’s clear you need your rest, isn’t it? New York Knicks need it too. Give New Yorkers a break.”
He urged the president not to attend the upcoming games, saying, “Stay at the White House, go to Mar-a-Lago, go to Bedminster, do whatever it is that you gotta do, just stay the hell away from the New York Knicks for the rest of this series. Pretty please with sugar on top.”
Originally reported by Namrata Ghosh on Mandatory.
