‘I owe him an apology’ – Stephen A. Smith clears up confusion towards Mat Ishbia with awkward apology

It's a war of words.

And that's usually the case when Stephen A. Smith is involved.

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Except this time, Smith issued the rare apology on what came out of his mouth earlier this week when it came to comparing Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia with former disgraced owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling.

Smith tried to make the comparison between Ishbia and Sterling as NBA owners, from a basketball standpoint, but led most people to just hear that Smith was comparing Ishbia to the man who received a lifetime ban from the NBA after making racist comments to his mistress on a recording (among other things).

“Mat Ishbia needs to understand that right now, you are on the verge of being recognized as the worst owner in the history of basketball,” Smith said.

“That’s saying a lot. That’s saying a lot. Donald Sterling once owned an NBA franchise...

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"That’s the trajectory, if you’re Mat Ishbia, that you are on right now, being recognized as arguably the worst owner in the history of basketball.”

It was the season of hell for the Suns, who were the most disappointing team in the league this season, with the highest expectations. This is what Smith was trying to convey when discussing Ishbia's shortcomings.

Ishbia saw what Smith had said and wasn't afraid to fire back and admit his own failures.

“He’s doing his thing, he’s on the mic, and I think he’ll apologize to me because I think it’s disrespectful to put my name aligned with anybody that was kicked out of the league or no longer part of it,” Ishbia said to the media.

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“If he wants to say the first two and a half years Mat Ishbia bought the team, we didn’t win a championship, I think you could probably say that about almost every owner ever.

"But yeah, we had high expectations, but we didn’t win.

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“We spent a lot of money and we didn’t win. Yep. Yep. Be critical of me on that. But to even say that kind of stuff, I think he’ll apologize.

"I think he was out of line, and I think he knows that. I don’t think he really believes that.”

Ishbia was proven to be correct.

Smith did apologize to him, in a somewhat awkward moment on ESPN's First Take on Friday morning.

"Mat Ishbia is absolutely right," Smith said.

"I do owe him an apology, because I mentioned Donald Sterling.

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";I thought I was making it clear I was talking about basketball. I certainly did not mean to compare him to a person that...has been widely recognized as a racist."

Smith would go on and be clear he wasn't apologizing for what he said about Ishbia in regards to his failure on the basketball operations side.

So it was somewhat of a backhanded apology.

The Suns didn't even make the play-in tournament, with a core consisting of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

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They finished 10 games under .500, with a record of 36-46, good for 11th in the Western Conference.

Smith was wrong to compare Ishbia to Sterling, but he was fair to criticize the basketball moves that the Suns owner has made so far in his short time in Phoenix.