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Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo Lost It on Stephen A. Smith for His Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic Pick

This got heated.

Kevin Sweeney

Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo Lost It on Stephen A. Smith for His Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic Pick
Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo Lost It on Stephen A. Smith for His Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic Pick /
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Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had quite the back-and-forth on Wednesday’s First Take over a debate about who the NBA’s most skilled big man is.

Smith used a segment discussing Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid’s knee injury Tuesday night to say that he believes, at least from a skill set standpoint, that Embiid is the greatest big man in today’s NBA, even better than defending NBA champion Nikola Jokić.

“Embiid is never healthy so it’s a moot point, but I’m talking about, in terms of his skill set and his game and what he brings to the table, healthy Embiid, I’m taking over Jokić or any big man in basketball right now,” Smith said.

Here’s the full dialogue.

Smith did concede that he would take Jokić over Embiid overall because of his “durability and reliability,” but on skillset alone, Embiid was his choice. That infuriated Mad Dog, who quickly went into his reasons for backing the Nuggets' star.

“Jokić can handle the ball, he’s a much better passer,” Russo said. “Are we going to start the day with this asinine remark out of you?”

By the end, host Molly Qerim was doing everything she could to slow down the train, joking that Smith “teed himself up” for the beef with Russo. Fans, meanwhile, loved the quintessential First Take moment.

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Kevin Sweeney
KEVIN SWEENEY

Kevin Sweeney is a staff writer at Sports Illustrated covering college basketball and the NBA draft. He joined the SI staff in July 2021 and also serves host and analyst for The Field of 68. Sweeney is a Naismith Trophy voter and ia member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

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