Stephen A. Smith officially curses the Golden State Warriors (Video)

If recent history is worth anything, the Golden State Warriors will have to break the curse of Stephen A. Smith in the NBA Finals.

Stephen A. Smith has gotten his NBA Finals prediction wrong six years in a row. The same six years, possibly not coincidentally, LeBron James has appeared in consecutive Finals. On Monday morning’s edition of ESPN’s “First Take,” smartly or not, Smith took another shot at an NBA Finals prediction.

Smith is predicting the Golden State Warriors will defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games, and he even acknowledges how likely it is LeBron will be happy with his prediction. The Warriors are widely considered the favorite to win the Finals rubber match with the Cavaliers, so even with Smith picking them is not that outlandish.

For what it’s worth, Smith’s co-host, Max Kellerman, picked the Warriors in six games during his part of the same prediction segment on Monday. But the “curse of Kellerman” is not a thing yet.

Sports curses are often overblown, with random events inspiring fans to believe in them until they are somehow broken. But Smith’s NBA Finals prediction over the last six years has spanned multiple teams. There’s also been no real pattern to his picks. He’s picked for and against LeBron, in Miami and Cleveland, and this is the first time he’s picked a team from the same conference two years in a row.

Next: 2017 NBA Finals: 5 reasons the Cavaliers can repeat

That kind of lack of randomness is enough to buy in, and this curse is real until Smith’s NBA Finals losing streak stops. The 2017 NBA Finals start on Thursday night, from Oracle Arena in Oakland, after a long layoff with both teams dominating their postseason run. Then we’ll see if the Warriors star power is enough to put the “curse of Stephen A. Smith” to bed.