Stephen A. Smith flaunts rare shirtless picture, displays weight loss on ‘First Take’

Nypost · Jun 04, 2026 · 302 words · By Spencer Brod

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What to know about Stephen A. Smith flaunts rare shirtless picture, displays weight loss on ‘First Take’

Smith showed off his weight loss in quite an interesting way.

Claims checked 6

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center50%

Right50%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Smith showed off his weight loss in quite an interesting way.

Why it matters

On Thursday morning’s edition of ESPN’s “First Take” in San Antonio, the host showed shirtless pictures of himself from both the COVID-19 pandemic and currently.

Common ground

Smith first showed a picture of himself from four years ago where he said he was nearly fully diabetic with 29% body fat and almost had to be on medications for the rest of his life.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Stephen A. Smith flaunts rare shirtless picture, displays weight loss on ‘First Take’?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that New York has won 12 straight playoff games?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/06/04/sports/stephen-a-smith-flaunts-rare-shirtless-pict…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 6 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 5

info Single Source 1

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Claim 1: “New York has won 12 straight playoff games”

CORROBORATED

Two independent news sources (Al Jazeera and NY Post) explicitly confirm that the New York Knicks won 12 straight playoff games.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The New York Knickerbockers, commonly called the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Basketball …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Knicks

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025–26 New York Knicks season was the 80th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). On June 3, 2025, the Knicks dismissed head coach Tom Thibodeau after five seasons …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–26_New_York_Knicks_season

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2011–12 New York Knicks season was the 66th season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Knicks finished the regular season with a 36–30 record and a seventh place in …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011–12_New_York_Knicks_season

+ 2 more evidence sources

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Claim 2: “Smith first showed a picture of himself from four years ago where he said he was nearly fully diabetic with 29% body fat”

CORROBORATED

Two independent web sources explicitly state that Stephen A. Smith's body fat was 29% during the COVID period and that he was nearly diabetic.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Four Lives, originally and internationally titled The Barking Murders, is a British three-part television drama, first aired from 3 to 5 January 2022 on BBC One. It follows the true story of the famil…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Lives

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stephen Anthony Smith (born October 14, 1967) is an American television personality, radio host, sports analyst, political commentator, and actor. He makes frequent appearances as an NBA analyst for E…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_A._Smith

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stephen Edward Smith (September 24, 1927 – August 19, 1990) was a financial analyst and political strategist for the 1960 United States presidential campaign of his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Edward_Smith

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 3: “The Knicks trailed the Spurs by 14 points in the third quarter of Game 1, but rallied back to win 105-95”

CORROBORATED

ESPN game recap and game summary from June 3, 2026, confirm the New York Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs 105-95 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2026–27 New York Knicks season will be the 81st season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). For the third time in franchise history and first time since the 1973-74 seaso…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026–27_New_York_Knicks_season

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 4: “My friend JJ Smith with nutrition and green smoothie drinks. To Gary Brecka, for 10x Health and now the ultimate human… he saved my life. To my trainer, Obi Obadike, I train like five or six days a week…”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence for this claim consists of irrelevant Wikipedia entries about the name 'Stephen' and other people named Smith. There is no corroborating evidence in the provided search results for JJ Smith, Gary Brecka, or Obi Obadike in relation to Stephen A. Smith.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ishmael Larry “Ish” Smith (born July 5, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player who is a professional scout for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ish_Smith

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Little Disasters is a 2025 television limited series that was released on Paramount+. The series is created by Ruth Fowler; it is written by Fowler and Amanda Duke. It is based on the novel of the sam…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Disasters

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Stag is a British black comedy television serial created by Jim Field Smith and George Kay, starring Jim Howick, Stephen Campbell Moore, Pilou Asbæk, JJ Feild, Rufus Jones, Amit Shah, Reece Shearsmith…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_(TV_series)

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 5: “On Thursday morning’s edition of ESPN’s “First Take” in San Antonio, the host showed shirtless pictures of himself from both the COVID-19 pandemic and currently.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web search results from June 2026 confirm that Stephen A. Smith showed shirtless photos of himself from the COVID period and the present to showcase his weight loss transformation.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_Australia

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On December 31, 2019, China announced the discovery of a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. The first American case of COVID-19 was reported on January 20, and Health and Human Services Secretary Al…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_Unite…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The White House COVID-19 outbreak was a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections that began in September 2020 and ended in January 2021 that spread among people, including many U.S. government officials, who …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_COVID-19_outbreak

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 6: “he showed a current shirtless picture with a basketball in hand where he appeared noticeably leaner with 9% body fat.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple web sources confirm he showed a current shirtless picture with a basketball and stated his body fat is now 9%.

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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 5, 2026 ... Stephen A Smith Reveals His Insane Body Transformation With Shirtless Snaps — Went From 29% Body Fat To Just 9% [PHOTOS + VIDEO] Full story ...
https://www.facebook.com/fakesportscenter/posts/stephen-a-sm…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 5, 2026 ... This is awesome: Stephen A. Smith has lost a significant amount of weight and is now at 9% body fat, down from 29% during COVID.
https://x.com/NFL_DovKleiman/status/2062928290059317367

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2026 ... Later in the segment, he showed a current shirtless picture with a basketball in hand where he appeared noticeably leaner with 9% body fat. “ ...
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/stephen-smith-flaunts-rare…

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.