Stephen A. Smith, fresh off his nurse-shooting turn on General Hospital, further expanded his acting repertoire on a new episode of Law & Order.
In the episode, titled “Tough Love,” Smith—whose affinity for the series is well-documented—plays a sports agent whose sternly delivered advice to a client ultimately leads to his demise. As seen in a clip from the episode making the rounds on social media following its Thursday night debut on NBC and Peacock, Smith’s character urges his client to not only take stock of his financial situation but to seriously consider gutting his crew of hangers-on.
“You could believe me today or you could believe the bank when they come and take the keys to your house,” Smith’s character, Theodore Hunter, says. “You gotta make changes, bro. By the way, I’m keeping my five percent. You ain’t getting that back.”
From there, Smith questions how many people, exactly, his client has put on his payroll, leading to a timely mention of LeBron James, whose real-life issues with Smith are even more well-documented than the recent 360 guest’s Law & Order fandom.
“It’s time to be real,” Smith’s character says with intensity. “You ain’t LeBron.”
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While Smith’s character on this round of Law & Order does indeed meet a violent end, he recently told TVLine’s Kimberly Roots that he has his sights set on returning to the franchise in the future. Ideally, Smith explained, he’ll one day get a shot at playing a lawyer in the courtroom. For now, though, his busy schedule doesn’t quite permit the time required to pull off a more substantial role.
