Stephen A. reacts to LeBron's injury: The Clippers are under pressure | First Take

stephen a which team is under the most pressure to capitalize off lebron at aed's absence right now and uh really gain some ground i would say the los angeles clippers but before i get into that may i take a step back and give props to one of the greatest point guards the game of basketball has ever seen the cp3 who recorded his 10 000th assist last night i mean let's give props where it's due it was against those lakers uh without lebron we get all of that and congratulations to him one of the great pure quintessential point guards the game of basketball has ever seen having said all of that i would answer the question directly by saying that the los angeles clippers are the ones as far as i'm concerned who should have the most pressure i know the utah jazz has been playing well and we can get into the other teams as well but here's the reality of the situation there's another team in los angeles a team that has kawhi leonard a two-time nba champion in the two-time nba finals mvp i don't know how many times i got to hop on this before someone gravitates to what i'm saying kawhi leonard owes us a match-up against lebron james you strode into l.a okay you sat up there and and demanded that the los angeles clippers pay the farm mortgage the farm the house and everything in between okay just so you can get paul george you got paul george who isn't playing shabby by the way isn't all-star and is playing like an all-star i know kawhi leonard's numbers are there this is not about his numbers this is about the willingness not the ability because i'm not questioning his ability the willingness to lead to galvanize to maximize the potential surrounding you so you can take this organization to heights it has never seen before i will remind you max kellerman as a man that lived in los angeles i believe it was for six years that's what you said right correct you're hosting max you know i was there for los angeles the voice of los angeles maxim marcellus even though john is settled down oh yeah but that's either that's neither here or there the bottom line is this guy he's a great guy yeah maxum marcellus you had your radio show mason 2. you had your radio show in l.a the bottom line is this you know this the clippers have never even been to the conference finals never even been let alone being funny in their history in their history okay now guess what so i have a situation where it's kawhi with paul george okay you got enough of a crew there where they'll probably make a move before the training deadline expires because they need a point guard which is a discussion we'll have a little bit later on in the show all right because several teams need a point guard and we understand all of that but here's the reality it's on kawhi leonard and if lebron i ain't worried about lebron lebron will be back he'll be ready to go come playoff time it's probably not as bad as this said it is just because they want to give him additional rest because he won't take it on his own because he only missed one game this season up to this point the bottom line is this the opportunity is there because remember i am anticipating just for the record i am anticipating ladies and gentlemen that there will be fans in attendance come june and july at at least 50 capacity that's what i'm assuming considering the news that the president has has disseminated in terms of 100 million people getting the vaccine and addition and tens of millions additionally expected to receive the vaccine by june i believe that combined with nba players because we had the atlanta hawks we had the new orleans pelicans take their vaccine shots i think you will see more july 4th independence from the vaccine june is pretty close again i'm not talking 100 capacity but i'm talking about it's not unreasonable to see 50 to 75 capacity at an nba arena come playoff time and so when i'm looking at it from that perspective again the staples set up with kawhi against lebron do you have any idea how many people are looking forward to that i'm number one on the list i saw the crown dangling from the mirror with the new balance commercials i saw the la sign up there when you driving in your convertible looking like you from boys in the hood i saw all of that okay now i want the match up and lebron has given me every indication that he will be ready because he was ready he was waiting in the conference finals last year max he was waiting and the clippers didn't show up well guess what i'm looking for it now i don't give a damn ty luke and coach all right ty lucky coach paul george can play kawhi leonard is a superstar his numbers validate that where's the match up that's what i want to see that's where the pressure should lie yes everything you just said is true there's nothing there's no lies detected in anything you just said and yet i'm not a liar and yet it's not the whole truth is it stephen i believe it is because you're not fooling anybody at least not at this desk okay you need lakers clippers because you get to go out to l.a yes and the travel is from staples to staples you're not going anywhere i mean you're just spending the whole western conference in l.a that that that is an angle that i i i can't deny that's right i mean i mean i'm not going to deny that yeah well i of course not that's right who you got caught right now i did not fingerprint soldiers i will say this this little nugget of facts for you i i'm going to be in l.a anyway but you don't have thanks for watching espn on youtube for live streaming sports and premium content subscribe to espn plus

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Keywords: first take, lebron, stephen a. smith, stephen a., lebron james, los angeles lakers, lakers, lakers news, nba news, nba on espn, espn nba, lebron james lakers, lebron james espn, lebron espn, nba, nba espn, lebron james 2021, first take today, first take espn, espn, espn first take, stephen a smith, stephen a first take, #espn, basketball, #nba, anthony davis, Stephen A. reacts to LeBron's injury: The Clippers are under pressure | First Take, la clippers, kawhi, max kellerman

Id: Fx0NXn5Ik3g

Length: 5min 37sec (337 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 22 2021