Shannon Sharpe's preposterous standards for picking NBA's poster boy has fans in stitches: "Nobody mentioned Michael 'gambler' Jordan"
NFL legend Shannon Sharpe is never one to shy away from hot takes. When he sat across from Skip Bayless on Undisputed, and now when he appears on ESPN's First Take along with Stephen A. Smith, he continued to drop hot takes. On the heels of a star-studded NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, Sharpe dropped a take that has many fans scratching their heads.
When discussing players who can serve as the face of the NBA, Shannon Sharpe raised a question that puzzled his co-hosts. As he theorized, being in a successful relationship may be necessary to be considered the face of the NBA.
Using Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as examples of past players, and LeBron James as an example of a current player, Sharpe made his case. He also leaned on Stephen A. Smith to weigh in, suggesting he may know better and be able to weigh-in on the matter.
That wasn't the case, as Stephen A. Smith and NBA vet JJ Redick were both left scratching their heads by Sharpe's comments. As Smith indicated, he has absolutely no idea what Sharpe was talking about.
Molly Qerim was quick to step in, saying she understood the point Shannon Sharpe was trying to make. As she tried to explain, Sharpe simply meant that in cases like Steph and Ayesha Curry, fans look to them as good examples in the NBA community.
Fans were quick to weigh in, with many less understanding than Qerim.
Fans push back on Shannon Sharpe's claim, pointing out flaws in NFL legend's logic
As seen in the reactions above, many fans pushed back on Sharpe's claim that the face of the NBA needs to be in a committed relationship. Sharpe notably used Magic Johnson as an example of a player who was married, and the face of the NBA.
As many fans were quick to point out, however, Magic Johnson infamously admitted to sleeping with dozens of women. The Hall of Famer also notably indicated that in one instance, he slept with six women at the same time.
In a tell-all interview back in 1992 on ABC's Primetime, Johnson opened up on his personal life after his HIV diagnosis. The tell-all interview is still used today when discussing the wild life of the Hall of Famer, given how open he was about his love life.
"Like I said, women have different fantasies. Some want to be with two-three at a time. One time I had six at the one time. ... I’m not sending any mixed messages, that was my life. If you ask me if I had fun, yes I had fun. ‘Did you reach all your fantasies?’ Yes I did. But you pay for it."
Considering the other players referenced by Shannon Sharpe such as LeBron James didn't have such controversial stories, it's no wonder fans pushed back on his claim.