The Fumble: Stephen A. Smith Vs. Jaylen Brown, Cavs Collapse, Carl Crawford On MLB Clubhouse Hazing

Debating the hottest topics in sports from the week.

May 23, 2026 - 17:18

The Fumble: Stephen A. Smith Vs. Jaylen Brown, Cavs Collapse, Carl Crawford On MLB Clubhouse Hazing

Unlike most sports pundits, Stephen A. Smith has a knack for becoming the story, and he’s been inserted once again thanks to his feud with Jaylen Brown.

The two have been going back and forth since Brown called the 2025-26 season his favorite ever, despite blowing a 3-1 lead and playing without a rehabbing Jayson Tatum.

It’s culminated in Brown saying “f-ck Stephen A.” and calling for his firing.

The Fumble cohosts break down the conflict as a consequence of athletes becoming more vocal.

“I think that everyone’s been asking for athletes to be more truthful about how they feel, right? Like we want to get inside the mind of the athlete,” Rodney said. “And now that athletes have their own outlets and their own platforms, and when they decide to be vulnerable or decide to share, you know, a joy, for instance, right? He had a great season. He’ll be First Team All-NBA, really, in an MVP race as well, and so by every metric of his own personal success and validation, this was a good year for Jaylen Brown. For him to acknowledge that and for you to turn it into an opportunity to pit him against Jayson Tatum, I just feel like it’s irresponsible.”

The New York Knicks have dominated the Eastern Conference, and things don’t seem to be changing much in the Conference Finals as they sit pretty with a 2-0 lead against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

There was some doubt in Game 1 when they fell behind by 22 points, but after mounting a 44-11 fourth quarter and OT comeback, it’s clear they’ve got Finals expectations.

But it was also a clear embarrassment for the Donovan Mitchell-led Cavs, especially at the hands of James Harden. The main culprit, though? It may be coach Kenny Atkinson.

“Kenny Atkinson’s got to go. Kenny Atkinson, the Cleveland Cavaliers coach,” said Rodney. “He got to go this morning. I’m sorry, good brother. There is no way in hell that you allow a team to go on an 18-1 run and you do not call a single timeout in the entirety of that run. It was an egregious coaching display to leave James Harden out there, who was not contributing on offense, to be a professional cone on defense.”

For this week’s guest, we chopped it up with former baseball player Carl Crawford about clubhouse hazing hijinks and his successful transition to music afterr establishing his 1501 Certified Entertainment label.