ESPN analyst calls out Stephen A. Smith on potential No. 1 pick: ‘No NBA GM is calling him’

After Stephen A. Smith went on a rant about potential No. 1 NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa by saying he never should have gone to BYU, one of Smith’s ESPN colleagues fired back. “I’m not sure if @stephenasmith was trying to purposely trigger my @BYUMBB fan friends when he said on @FirstTake that AJ should not have gone to BYU,” Fraschilla wrote on X/Twitter. “Don’t let him,” Fraschilla added. “He’s actually a very nice man & the show is mostly schtick. No NBA GM is calling him. I’m not sure there was a better fit for AJ to thrive in this season. No one could have predicted all the injuries.” On “First Take,” Smith said he never thought Dybantsa should have gone to BYU despite the player getting $7 million in NIL. “I don’t know why the hell he went to BYU personally,” Smith said. “It should’ve been somewhere else.” In what was likely his final collegiate game on Thursday, Dybantsa went for 35 points and 10 rebounds in a 79-71 loss ot Texas, but the rest of his team scored 36 points. Smith pointed out that Dybantsa “has been dealing with that all season” and that BYU ranks 308th nationally in bench scoring. Dybantsa and Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson are the projected top-2 picks in this year’s draft, which will be dominated by freshmen. The top nine picks are projected to be freshmen, per Tankathon. “This is the kid I would take with the No. 1 pick in the draft,” former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said of Dybantsa on air.