Stephen A. Smith Delivered Arguably His Best Rant Yet When Discussing Joel Embiid’s Illness

Stephen A. Smith is reportedly set to become the highest paid employee at ESPN, and will become that because of his unique ability to deliver unbelievably entertaining takes on just about every subject.

He’s not always the most accurate or the one that delivers the best analysis, but no one at the company gets people to tune in quite like Stevie A., whether it’s to love or hate him. Part of that is how he’s able to dig deep and get fired up about just about anything, making whatever the day’s sports headlines are sound like the most important thing in the world. They rarely are, but that’s his gift.

On Monday, Smith came into work fired up about the Philadelphia 76ers, namely Joel Embiid. Television’s premier takesmith could not believe Embiid woke up in the morning and gave the Sixers nine hours of notice that he wasn’t feeling well and would be a gametime decision ahead of Game 4, and on First Take began to lay out his frustrations.

First Take is far from Stephen A.’s only platform for takes, and when it came time for the Stephen A. Smith Show, his radio show that’s simulcast on TV, he had honed his rant even more. The result one of the all-time great 90 seconds in spots radio history, listing off all the different things you can nap during before a game and explaining how he loves his massages and sometimes even needs pedicures.

It’s objectively great television/radio and is why, despite his shortcomings, Smith is as popular as he is. Who else can seem as genuinely passionate about something as otherwise trivial as this? Not to mention making it hilarious, intentionally or not. Bow down to the king of the sports take, who is here to remind us that he’s still seated on that throne (even if he might be asleep on it while getting his feet rubbed).