"All time bad take" - Stephen A. Smith ridiculed for calling for Ja Morant to replace Elvis Presley as the face of Memphis

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith had a bizarre rant about Elvis Presley while discussing Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies. Smith called for Morant to replace Presley as the face of the city. However, fans ridiculed Smith for his weird take on the musical icon.

Smith pointed out that "Elvis is Dead" and the city of Memphis should replace him with Morant as the face of the entire Home of the Blues. He even thought that the city needed to take down Presley and Graceland billboards and start putting up more showing the Grizzlies superstar guard.

"This is the point I wanted to make because I've reiterated this on many occasions, Elvis is dead," Smith said." God rest his soul. You ain't been to Memphis, Molly (Querim). You ain't been to Memphis. I've been to Memphis.

"They've got signs of Elvis. They got billboards of Elvis and Graceland. There should be billboards of Ja Morant. Elvis is dead, Kendrick Perkins. It's over, God rest his soul. It's about Ja Morant in Memphis."

It's definitely a hot take by Stephen A. Smith, but Ja Morant was just recently suspended for conduct detrimental to the NBA. Morant has also not won anything significant in his career and has not brought a championship to the city of Memphis.

Elvis Presley is a pop culture icon and one of the legendary people from Memphis. Fans online also thought Smith was being disrespectful and was ridiculed for his garbage take. Here are some of the best responses to the ESPN analyst's Elvis take:

It should be noted that this isn't the first time Stephen A. Smith has taken a shot at Elvis Presley during his ESPN career. He called for Elvis billboards to be taken down a couple of times last year, both times during a discussion with Chris "Mad Dog" Russo.

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Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies to face LA Lakers in first round of 2023 NBA Playoffs

Ja Morant playing against the LA Lakers

Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies are set to face LeBron James and the LA Lakers in the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs. The Lakers outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday in their play-in tournament matchup at Crypto.com Arena.

Game 1 of the Grizzlies-Lakers series is on Sunday at the FedEx Forum in Memphis. The Lakers have the momentum heading into the matchup and have a healthier roster. The Grizzlies will be without two of their top big men in Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke.

The Lakers also won the season series over the Grizzlies 2-1. They won two at home in Hollywood, including a game wherein Shannon Sharpe got into it with Morant's father, Tee. It will be interesting to see if the Lakers can pull off an upset against the Grizzlies.