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Stephen A. Smith responded to Stephen Jackson's comments about him regarding Russell Westbrook's situation following his Game 3 ejection. Jackson called Smith a "snitch" on his podcast with Matt Barnes for calling the NBA about why Westbrook was not suspended.
On "The Stephen A. Smith Show," the ESPN analyst went off on Jackson and explained why he called the NBA. He inquired about why Westbrook was not suspended and explained that it was part of his job as a journalist.
"I called the league because we had a show called 'NBA Countdown.' That show was due to come on in an hour, we had learned that Russell Westbrook would not be suspended for the game.
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"We know that had that been Draymond Green or somebody, they would have been suspended, so I called to find out and decipher what was the reason for him not being suspended," Smith said.
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He added:
"If you need to know, I spoke to Joe Dumars, to be exact, asked Joe Dumas. Did I ever once say y'all should suspend him? Y'all should suspend him, y'all should suspend him. I never said that I didn't call for them to suspend Russell Westbrook.
"I called for clarification to decipher the difference between what would have definitely occurred with a suspension and why didn't occur in that case so I could provide an explanation over the airwaves of 'NBA Countdown,' which is my job."
Stephen A. Smith further explained that he works for ESPN, a network that pays the NBA a billion dollars.
It was just all business between Smith and the league, and he only called on behalf of his bosses on the network. He still respects Stephen Jackson, but he was not having any of what he said and put the former NBA on blast.
Stephen A. Smith on why the NBA didn't suspend Russell Westbrook
The root of the issue between Stephen A. Smith and Stephen Jackson was Russell Westbrook's ejection in Game 3 of the LA Clippers' series against the Dallas Mavericks. Smith felt that Westbrook was being too aggressive and should have been suspended for Game 4.
Jackson took exception to Smith's connection to the NBA and called the ESPN analyst a "snitch." But, in reality, Smith was just asking the league why it didn't suspend Westbrook.
Here's why the NBA didn't suspend the former MVP:
"They said the officials wrote their written report and stated we had everything under control. Russell Westbrook caused no problems. There was no further incident and that's why we let it go, plus it was the playoffs.
"Had it been the regular season, we would have we would have suspended him. But because it wasn't the regular season, it was the postseason and there's a lot more at stake, we're going to be highly reluctant to do that," Smith said.
