November 6, 2024 • 22 mins
Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
Stephen A. comments on Phoenix Suns player Kevin Durant calling him a clown in The Atlantic.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
I'd be remiss in starting in any different direction than
with Kevin Durant, the super star basketball player who took
the liberty of calling me out in very very disrespectful
turns to be quite honest with you.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
But it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
It involves Kevin Durant, as I said, star the Phoenix Suns.
Durant is reportedly tired of my criticism of his leadership.
In an article written in The Athletic any article, he says, quote,
I've been in the league for eighteen years. I've never
seen stephen A at a practice or a film session
or should round. I've never seen him anywhere but on
TV talking about players. He's a clown. To me, He's
(00:39):
always been a clown. You can write that too. End quote. Wow,
how testy we get. So that's Kevin Durant speaking about me.
And if you're wondering where this all comes from, before
I even get into it, let me first show you
what I said less than two weeks ago during my
(00:59):
day time job, first take on ESPN that apparently had
Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So riled up.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Look at what I said, ladies and gentlemen, when you
talk about Kevin Durant. This is what we're not going
to do. We're not going to look at Kevin Durant
and just measure him in terms of just his talent.
It's what ability you have to peel out of others.
He's been relatively leaderless. He's been very he's been very
(01:26):
lacking in inspiration in terms of peeling out from those
around him. Whatever you can give him, he'll show up.
If you said to me, if it's a game seven,
it's a game one, it's a game for I don't
give a damn what it is.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Kevin Durant's gonna show up and he's gonna ball out.
But does he get the others around him to do it?
Not only does he not do it, he doesn't feel
the level of responsibility I.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Think he should feel in getting it out of him.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Needless to say, Kevin Durant wasn't going to take that
line down because obviously, if he claps back at fans
and everybody else in their Grandmama, he certainly was going
to clap back at me, and he most.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Certainly did just a few days later when he threw.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Out this tweet quote on x he says, first, take
Stephen A Smith, I would disagree, Stephen. I would argue
passionately that my intangibles have always been on par with
my talent. I saw that, and I immediately responded by saying,
and I would argue passionately that very little compares to
your obvious greatness as a talent, including those intangibles.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Respectfully, KD. Tray five, etc.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And then next thing you know, I'm in the house
last night watching football and I see the article with
the quote that I had just read to you to
start off this segment. A lot of people out there
are going to expect me to go in on Kevin Durant,
(02:54):
to disrespect him. I just don't feel that way about him.
I think Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players
to ever play basketball. I think he's one of the
greatest offensive talents this world has ever seen. He's a
two time champion, He's a two time NBA Finals MVP,
(03:15):
He's a former League MVP.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
He's a multiple time scoring champion. He is destined for the.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Having said that, I stand by every damn syllable I
uttered about him. I said what I meant, and I
meant what I said. His leadership has been brought into question.
Now you've seen articles because some of these weak ass
reporters try to go out there and use me as
(03:47):
the news. And let me tell you why I take
offence to that. I take offence to that because it's
not as if they're acknowledging me as a personality who
was once their breathren and to some degree still is.
They act like they forgot that I was in a
(04:09):
press boxes, I was courtside, I was in the media row,
I was in pregame lock rooms, postgame lock rooms, shoot
arounds and all of that stuff, just like they are now.
They act like I didn't do that, that I just
ran my mouth and I ultimately got here. New York
Daily News, Philadelphia Choirer, CNNSI, Fox Sports, ESPN. My resume
(04:34):
is my resume. It's there for everybody to see. And
you might not have noted until you read my book
Straight Shooter. But for a kid that grew up in
the streets of Hollis Queens, New York, that had dyslexia,
that got left back because I was in a fourth
grade reading on a first grade reading level, I think
(04:54):
it's pretty.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What I've been able to accomplish in my life, if
I say so myself. Not only am I renowned as
a journalist and an insider and a reporter as I
which I spent the first twenty years of my career doing,
but I transitioned to radio and television, where I've made
noise in this industry as well.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And the reason I bring that up is not just.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Because a reporter shouldn't be going up to say Steven,
they said it, but also a player with Kevin Durant's credentials,
no matter how insensitive your ass may be, has no
business acting like I didn't do some of the things
these reporters do. Kevin Durant lied to you. He's never
(05:44):
seen me in a locker room ever. You've never seen
me at a practice, even though practice is closed to
the media until you finished and they come over with never.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
You never saw me at games.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
When for the better part of the last twenty five
years I've been at an average of one hundred and
twenty games a year.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
You ain't seen me.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
When you were playing for the Golden State Warriors. You
didn't see me seeing courtside.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I'm sorry. When you were in Brooklyn and the Golden
State Warriors came.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You didn't see me seeing courtside with your former owner
Joe Lacerp.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You didn't see me at a couple of Phoenix games.
You didn't see me there.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
You didn't see me in attendance when you went up
against the Clippers. You didn't see me at the finals.
You didn't see me at the Western Conference finals when
you were playing against Houston and James Harden. Were gonna lie.
Now we're gonna lie because those are lives.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Those are lives.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But again I understand because you and your feelings call
Ralph Tresvant, by the way, told him you was looking
for him. Need a man with sensitivity, right, remember that song?
But I digress. I'm just joking around about that. Just
the man with sensitivity is just a peg off of that.
That's all I was trying to say, nothing more, just
(07:23):
joking around. But let me get serious again. So we
get that out the way. Now, let's get to the
other parts that you said, I'm a clown?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Is that why you called me?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Is that why your team called me to be a
part of your documentary New York City Point Guards that
thirty five ventures. If I remember correctly, the executive produced.
That's why y'all called me because I was a clown?
Is your docu Sriies your company, you run the show,
you executive produced it. How come y'all.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Called me.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
A kid from Cody Island? The story about Steph far Marbray?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Didn't you.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
In concert with Stephan Mayer? Did you executive produce that too,
along with Marbray and others?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
How come you called me for that one?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Why when you had the Boardroom and you were sitting
down to interview people one on one, didn't you call
me to do that interview? By the way, did you
show up on first take sitting right across from me
a clown? Remember that, by the way, go back and
(08:42):
do your homework. What was one of your largest rated
episodes for the Boardroom when my man Jay Williams was
the host. On the occasion that you would sit across
from people that you were talking about or talking to,
that would be me. We just gonna ignore that, right, Okay, Fine,
(09:02):
The facts of the facts's right there for everybody to see,
New York City.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Point guards a kid from Cody Island.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I'd encourage all of y'all watching thirty five inentures Stephan Marvel,
all of them.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
They did a great, great job with that stuff. Go watch.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I'm featured in it quite heavily, I might add the
clown that is me.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Now, let's get back to the biggest issue.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
That I wanted to bring this up, and I alluded
to this this morning on first take, but I'll do
it again right here over my show, my podcast, etc.
Right here over the digital airwaves of YouTube, and of
course iHeartRadio. Kevin Durant. Can anybody talk about you? I
just need to know, I just need clarity. You leave
(09:45):
Oklahoma City, y'all are up three to one, You give
up a three to one lead, you end up losing
in the Western Conference finals, letting go to State, come
back from a three to one deficit, when Clay dropped
forty one on you in game six, When you're lost
(10:08):
in game seven, when your middle name could have easily
been passive when it counted most, and you lose the
Golden State and before people had a chance to pass
gas and go on vacation for the summer, you went
to Golden State to the very team that just sent
your ass home.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Now caught it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
The weakest move in the history of the sport by
any superstar, weakest move by a superstar, because you were
joining forces to stack the deck. I had to come
on the boardroom and explain, in no way was it
an attack on you as a player, because we all
know you great. What I explained was, you're so phenomenal
(10:53):
as a player that to be paired with the greatest
shooting backcourt in the history of basketball and one of
the elite defensive players in Draymond Green, with a sensational
coach and Steve Kerr, the debt was so stacked that
it made no sense to watch the upcoming NBA season
(11:13):
because there was no competition and how.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Could a superstar of.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Your caliber want that kind of situation.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That was what I said.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You go there anyway, props deserved three straight trip to
the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I believe three straight championships.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
If you don't get hurt and tell your achilles, y'all
have beat Kawhi Leonder in Toronto. I think you would
have swept them, but it didn't happen fair enough. But
your one back to back titles. You beat Lebron, You
were Finals MVP, you were balling out, you were the
best player on the Golden State Warriors, all things that
I easily acknowledged because I tried to tell the truth,
(11:50):
and that's just the truth.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And then what do you do.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
After departing from Oklahoma City to a peer on your
own show on the boardroom, sitting across from me, you
said you wanted to play a better brand of basketball,
that you just wanted your game to elevate and evolve.
And that was your ration out from the party for
(12:17):
Russell Westbrook and leaving him hanging to go in and joining.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Forces with the Splash Brothers.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Okay, fine, well, then what was the excuse for leaving
to go to Brooklyn with Kyrie Irvin? A sensational player,
no doubt, and a champion, but obviously.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Had some issues back then?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
We fast forward, even though I can see if Kyrie
hadn't got hurt against Milwaukee, y'all have beat Milwaukee.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Y'all have won a championship that year, but it didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
But then you, or rather staff and those boys go
to Boston and they win the championship.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And en route to winning.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
The championship, I said quote because of all that had.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Happened in Brooklyn and all the.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Things that your star power couldn't reel in and control
that if Steph Kury and Golden State had won the title,
you would be viewed more so as the dude who
left Steph to join Kyrie rather than two Tom champion
with two NBA Finals and vps.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
What has been happening ever since? And why did I
bring that up?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Because when stuff was transpiring in Brooklyn, everybody thinks it's
just about Kyrie and COVID and all of these other
issues that he may have had.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
No, it was.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
About Kenny Atkinson being there and ultimately departed. It was
about you signing off on Steve Nash being the head
coach when he had no experience on any level to.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Be a head coach.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It was about you making sure that Brooklyn embraced Kyrie.
Because Brooklyn didn't want Kyrie. They wanted you, and you
made it clear they were not getting you unless Kyrie arrived.
You figure out how I know that you figure that out,
and that was after you told the Knicks you were coming,
and then at the eleventh hour you got convinced to
(14:14):
roll over to Brooklyn, which might be one of the
worst business moves Mster thirty five ventures that we have
seen from a basketball superstar in a modern day era
because when we think about business with the number one
name that comes to it when we think about basketball
and business is Lebron James. Whether it's Cleveland to Miami,
(14:36):
back to Cleveland to La The business moves were adroit,
The business moves were big tim It's undeniable. I think
I had somebody tell me just the other day that
Lebron James is making over one hundred million dollars a
year in endorsements alone.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's why he's a billionaire.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And you far from broke and you're highly successful, But
think about.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
What you would have been had you become a Nick.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Who you said, wire whack, not taking into account Gotham City,
New York, the mecca, the brand that is the Knicks,
and how Nets fans exist in Brooklyn, Knicks fans exist
all over New York and then some.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And why were these things relevant?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Because people were talking about you, the player, the greatness
that comes with you. They were saying, yo, does he
really galvanized troops?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Does he really really really do what it takes to lead?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Nobody questioned work ethic, nobody questioned commitment, nobody questioned greatness
when it came to you and your own individual self.
But the other things they brought up were a question mark. Hell,
they even brought up weed.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yes, we duh. Now why would I bring that up.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Nobody's diming you out, nobody's talking about you smoking weed.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Or anything like that. You did.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Remember when you did the interview with David let him
in on Netflix and he brought it up and you said,
I might be high, right, I'm high right now, and
people looking at you in question and saying, Yo, how
committed are you to maximizing all that you can to
win a championship? Remember when you did interviews and you
(16:36):
talked about how the championship really wasn't that important. Sure,
you're gonna go out there and you're gonna play your
hardest and what have you, but really it's not that big.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Of a priority to you.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You just want to play the right way, and you
want to have fun and you want to evolve with
the game. Remember you said all of this, and I
didn't even bring up in terms of you getting back
to attach me, what.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Players, what people you've had issues with? Could y'all show
the list? Please?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Let's put it right up there for me, please. I'm
at the top of the lit shore. Remember when you
went at Barkley because you got mad because he caught
your follower. We don't need to get into the Russell Westbrook.
We know what that history is about.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
CJ. McCullum.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
You went on this podcast and then you departed from
this podcast and you had issues with something that he said.
He's not only a contemporary and a colleague, but he
was the president of the players Associated at a particular
moment in time. Don't get me started with ketching Perkins.
He ain't got no reason to talk about you either.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Huh. He was your teammate. He was in the locker.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
All right, stephen A. In the locker room, he was.
We're in the same uniform, went to the finals. When
you went to the finals, your teammate. How about Dennis Shrudder.
He brings up European basketball players and how they're not
(18:10):
about the sizzle, they're about the fundamentals.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And you went at him in the.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
International basketball community because they of the position he expressed.
Not to mention fans in Denver who are rooted for
your kitchen, who obviously is the best thing. They had
some sliced bread, Channa sharp. You went at them too.
Remember little b when you the presided to depart from
(18:39):
Oklahoma City to go to go to say, I.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Mean, damn, can anyone say something?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I mean, if it's really just about showering you with
praise and that's it, otherwise we all in trouble, say so,
say so. But I just mentioned players past that, president,
(19:09):
rap artists, media pundits, commentators. I didn't even bring up
the fans. You got burner accounts, brou I mean, I'm
proud of you for putting your nature it coming at
me like that, at least I know it was you.
(19:33):
I am critical of Kevin Durant only from the standpoint
that with that money and that greatness comes great responsibility,
the conter responsibility that should have us watching you. At
(19:55):
least in May. You've been swept to it the last
three years. You got swept by Boston, you got swept
by Minnesota. You would have got swept your first year
in Denver.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
In Phoenix, maybe not swept, but you probably would have lost.
If Kawhi Lennett had it got hurt. He did drop
thirty eight game one, thirty one game two. Even without
Paul George, the Clippers were giving y'all some business.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It was tied one to one, and then all of
a sudden, Kawhi Leonard disappeared, couldn't play no more.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
There's a legitimate argument that could be made that y'all
could have been gone.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Your team led by you could have been.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Going in the first round last three years. I'm talking basketball,
ladies and gentlemen. I'm not getting personal here. I'm talking basketball,
and I'm not clapping back at Kevin Durant because he he'
at me. He has every right to come at me
(21:02):
because I was talking about him. He has every right.
I take no offense with him clapping back. I'm just saying,
be factual. Mike Budenholds had just got in Phoenix. You
weren't pissed off at Frank Vogel last year when issues
involving separate team busses that I ain't gonna get into.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Come on, bro, you didn't have.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
The greatest relationship with Steve Kerb, but you ended up
playing with him for the Olympics or playing for him.
I'm making that up. It's just basketball. We're talking basketball.
That's the deal. That's all it happened. I got nothing negative. See,
(21:55):
even if I I don't get personal like that. And
I got mad love for Kate, the mad respect for him.
You don't want to talk, you don't want to talk.
I won't miss you. I'm not gonna lose any sleep
over you, bro. I talk to people who want to
talk to me. I show love to people who want
to show love to me. If you don't, I won't
miss you. But I'm gonna do my job. And my
(22:17):
job is to talk about basketball. And you want to
talk about what I haven't done, then why don't you
get my resume?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Google me?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
But you know you don't need to because you did
that already. That's why you called me for your documentaries.
I'm gonna leave it at that. I don't really have
to say more than that.
I'd be remiss in starting in any different direction than
with Kevin Durant, the super star basketball player who took
the liberty of calling me out in very very disrespectful
turns to be quite honest with you.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
But it is what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
It involves Kevin Durant, as I said, star the Phoenix Suns.
Durant is reportedly tired of my criticism of his leadership.
In an article written in The Athletic any article, he says, quote,
I've been in the league for eighteen years. I've never
seen stephen A at a practice or a film session
or should round. I've never seen him anywhere but on
TV talking about players. He's a clown. To me, He's
(00:39):
always been a clown. You can write that too. End quote. Wow,
how testy we get. So that's Kevin Durant speaking about me.
And if you're wondering where this all comes from, before
I even get into it, let me first show you
what I said less than two weeks ago during my
(00:59):
day time job, first take on ESPN that apparently had
Kevin Durant.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
So riled up.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Look at what I said, ladies and gentlemen, when you
talk about Kevin Durant. This is what we're not going
to do. We're not going to look at Kevin Durant
and just measure him in terms of just his talent.
It's what ability you have to peel out of others.
He's been relatively leaderless. He's been very he's been very
(01:26):
lacking in inspiration in terms of peeling out from those
around him. Whatever you can give him, he'll show up.
If you said to me, if it's a game seven,
it's a game one, it's a game for I don't
give a damn what it is.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Kevin Durant's gonna show up and he's gonna ball out.
But does he get the others around him to do it?
Not only does he not do it, he doesn't feel
the level of responsibility I.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Think he should feel in getting it out of him.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Needless to say, Kevin Durant wasn't going to take that
line down because obviously, if he claps back at fans
and everybody else in their Grandmama, he certainly was going
to clap back at me, and he most.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Certainly did just a few days later when he threw.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Out this tweet quote on x he says, first, take
Stephen A Smith, I would disagree, Stephen. I would argue
passionately that my intangibles have always been on par with
my talent. I saw that, and I immediately responded by saying,
and I would argue passionately that very little compares to
your obvious greatness as a talent, including those intangibles.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Respectfully, KD. Tray five, etc.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And then next thing you know, I'm in the house
last night watching football and I see the article with
the quote that I had just read to you to
start off this segment. A lot of people out there
are going to expect me to go in on Kevin Durant,
(02:54):
to disrespect him. I just don't feel that way about him.
I think Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players
to ever play basketball. I think he's one of the
greatest offensive talents this world has ever seen. He's a
two time champion, He's a two time NBA Finals MVP,
(03:15):
He's a former League MVP.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
He's a multiple time scoring champion. He is destined for the.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Having said that, I stand by every damn syllable I
uttered about him. I said what I meant, and I
meant what I said. His leadership has been brought into question.
Now you've seen articles because some of these weak ass
reporters try to go out there and use me as
(03:47):
the news. And let me tell you why I take
offence to that. I take offence to that because it's
not as if they're acknowledging me as a personality who
was once their breathren and to some degree still is.
They act like they forgot that I was in a
(04:09):
press boxes, I was courtside, I was in the media row,
I was in pregame lock rooms, postgame lock rooms, shoot
arounds and all of that stuff, just like they are now.
They act like I didn't do that, that I just
ran my mouth and I ultimately got here. New York
Daily News, Philadelphia Choirer, CNNSI, Fox Sports, ESPN. My resume
(04:34):
is my resume. It's there for everybody to see. And
you might not have noted until you read my book
Straight Shooter. But for a kid that grew up in
the streets of Hollis Queens, New York, that had dyslexia,
that got left back because I was in a fourth
grade reading on a first grade reading level, I think
(04:54):
it's pretty.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
It's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
What I've been able to accomplish in my life, if
I say so myself. Not only am I renowned as
a journalist and an insider and a reporter as I
which I spent the first twenty years of my career doing,
but I transitioned to radio and television, where I've made
noise in this industry as well.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And the reason I bring that up is not just.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Because a reporter shouldn't be going up to say Steven,
they said it, but also a player with Kevin Durant's credentials,
no matter how insensitive your ass may be, has no
business acting like I didn't do some of the things
these reporters do. Kevin Durant lied to you. He's never
(05:44):
seen me in a locker room ever. You've never seen
me at a practice, even though practice is closed to
the media until you finished and they come over with never.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
You never saw me at games.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
When for the better part of the last twenty five
years I've been at an average of one hundred and
twenty games a year.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
You ain't seen me.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
When you were playing for the Golden State Warriors. You
didn't see me seeing courtside.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
I'm sorry. When you were in Brooklyn and the Golden
State Warriors came.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
You didn't see me seeing courtside with your former owner
Joe Lacerp.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
You didn't see me at a couple of Phoenix games.
You didn't see me there.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
You didn't see me in attendance when you went up
against the Clippers. You didn't see me at the finals.
You didn't see me at the Western Conference finals when
you were playing against Houston and James Harden. Were gonna lie.
Now we're gonna lie because those are lives.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Those are lives.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
But again I understand because you and your feelings call
Ralph Tresvant, by the way, told him you was looking
for him. Need a man with sensitivity, right, remember that song?
But I digress. I'm just joking around about that. Just
the man with sensitivity is just a peg off of that.
That's all I was trying to say, nothing more, just
(07:23):
joking around. But let me get serious again. So we
get that out the way. Now, let's get to the
other parts that you said, I'm a clown?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Is that why you called me?
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Is that why your team called me to be a
part of your documentary New York City Point Guards that
thirty five ventures. If I remember correctly, the executive produced.
That's why y'all called me because I was a clown?
Is your docu Sriies your company, you run the show,
you executive produced it. How come y'all.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Called me.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
A kid from Cody Island? The story about Steph far Marbray?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Didn't you.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
In concert with Stephan Mayer? Did you executive produce that too,
along with Marbray and others?
Speaker 2 (08:16):
How come you called me for that one?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Why when you had the Boardroom and you were sitting
down to interview people one on one, didn't you call
me to do that interview? By the way, did you
show up on first take sitting right across from me
a clown? Remember that, by the way, go back and
(08:42):
do your homework. What was one of your largest rated
episodes for the Boardroom when my man Jay Williams was
the host. On the occasion that you would sit across
from people that you were talking about or talking to,
that would be me. We just gonna ignore that, right, Okay, Fine,
(09:02):
The facts of the facts's right there for everybody to see,
New York City.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Point guards a kid from Cody Island.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I'd encourage all of y'all watching thirty five inentures Stephan Marvel,
all of them.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
They did a great, great job with that stuff. Go watch.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
I'm featured in it quite heavily, I might add the
clown that is me.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Now, let's get back to the biggest issue.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
That I wanted to bring this up, and I alluded
to this this morning on first take, but I'll do
it again right here over my show, my podcast, etc.
Right here over the digital airwaves of YouTube, and of
course iHeartRadio. Kevin Durant. Can anybody talk about you? I
just need to know, I just need clarity. You leave
(09:45):
Oklahoma City, y'all are up three to one, You give
up a three to one lead, you end up losing
in the Western Conference finals, letting go to State, come
back from a three to one deficit, when Clay dropped
forty one on you in game six, When you're lost
(10:08):
in game seven, when your middle name could have easily
been passive when it counted most, and you lose the
Golden State and before people had a chance to pass
gas and go on vacation for the summer, you went
to Golden State to the very team that just sent
your ass home.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Now caught it.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
The weakest move in the history of the sport by
any superstar, weakest move by a superstar, because you were
joining forces to stack the deck. I had to come
on the boardroom and explain, in no way was it
an attack on you as a player, because we all
know you great. What I explained was, you're so phenomenal
(10:53):
as a player that to be paired with the greatest
shooting backcourt in the history of basketball and one of
the elite defensive players in Draymond Green, with a sensational
coach and Steve Kerr, the debt was so stacked that
it made no sense to watch the upcoming NBA season
(11:13):
because there was no competition and how.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Could a superstar of.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Your caliber want that kind of situation.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That was what I said.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
You go there anyway, props deserved three straight trip to
the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
I believe three straight championships.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
If you don't get hurt and tell your achilles, y'all
have beat Kawhi Leonder in Toronto. I think you would
have swept them, but it didn't happen fair enough. But
your one back to back titles. You beat Lebron, You
were Finals MVP, you were balling out, you were the
best player on the Golden State Warriors, all things that
I easily acknowledged because I tried to tell the truth,
(11:50):
and that's just the truth.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And then what do you do.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
After departing from Oklahoma City to a peer on your
own show on the boardroom, sitting across from me, you
said you wanted to play a better brand of basketball,
that you just wanted your game to elevate and evolve.
And that was your ration out from the party for
(12:17):
Russell Westbrook and leaving him hanging to go in and joining.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
Forces with the Splash Brothers.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Okay, fine, well, then what was the excuse for leaving
to go to Brooklyn with Kyrie Irvin? A sensational player,
no doubt, and a champion, but obviously.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Had some issues back then?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
We fast forward, even though I can see if Kyrie
hadn't got hurt against Milwaukee, y'all have beat Milwaukee.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Y'all have won a championship that year, but it didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
But then you, or rather staff and those boys go
to Boston and they win the championship.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And en route to winning.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
The championship, I said quote because of all that had.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Happened in Brooklyn and all the.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Things that your star power couldn't reel in and control
that if Steph Kury and Golden State had won the title,
you would be viewed more so as the dude who
left Steph to join Kyrie rather than two Tom champion
with two NBA Finals and vps.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
What has been happening ever since? And why did I
bring that up?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Because when stuff was transpiring in Brooklyn, everybody thinks it's
just about Kyrie and COVID and all of these other
issues that he may have had.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
No, it was.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
About Kenny Atkinson being there and ultimately departed. It was
about you signing off on Steve Nash being the head
coach when he had no experience on any level to.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Be a head coach.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
It was about you making sure that Brooklyn embraced Kyrie.
Because Brooklyn didn't want Kyrie. They wanted you, and you
made it clear they were not getting you unless Kyrie arrived.
You figure out how I know that you figure that out,
and that was after you told the Knicks you were coming,
and then at the eleventh hour you got convinced to
(14:14):
roll over to Brooklyn, which might be one of the
worst business moves Mster thirty five ventures that we have
seen from a basketball superstar in a modern day era
because when we think about business with the number one
name that comes to it when we think about basketball
and business is Lebron James. Whether it's Cleveland to Miami,
(14:36):
back to Cleveland to La The business moves were adroit,
The business moves were big tim It's undeniable. I think
I had somebody tell me just the other day that
Lebron James is making over one hundred million dollars a
year in endorsements alone.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
That's why he's a billionaire.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
And you far from broke and you're highly successful, But
think about.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
What you would have been had you become a Nick.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Who you said, wire whack, not taking into account Gotham City,
New York, the mecca, the brand that is the Knicks,
and how Nets fans exist in Brooklyn, Knicks fans exist
all over New York and then some.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
And why were these things relevant?
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Because people were talking about you, the player, the greatness
that comes with you. They were saying, yo, does he
really galvanized troops?
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Does he really really really do what it takes to lead?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Nobody questioned work ethic, nobody questioned commitment, nobody questioned greatness
when it came to you and your own individual self.
But the other things they brought up were a question mark. Hell,
they even brought up weed.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yes, we duh. Now why would I bring that up.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Nobody's diming you out, nobody's talking about you smoking weed.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Or anything like that. You did.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Remember when you did the interview with David let him
in on Netflix and he brought it up and you said,
I might be high, right, I'm high right now, and
people looking at you in question and saying, Yo, how
committed are you to maximizing all that you can to
win a championship? Remember when you did interviews and you
(16:36):
talked about how the championship really wasn't that important. Sure,
you're gonna go out there and you're gonna play your
hardest and what have you, but really it's not that big.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Of a priority to you.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You just want to play the right way, and you
want to have fun and you want to evolve with
the game. Remember you said all of this, and I
didn't even bring up in terms of you getting back
to attach me, what.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Players, what people you've had issues with? Could y'all show
the list? Please?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Let's put it right up there for me, please. I'm
at the top of the lit shore. Remember when you
went at Barkley because you got mad because he caught
your follower. We don't need to get into the Russell Westbrook.
We know what that history is about.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
CJ. McCullum.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
You went on this podcast and then you departed from
this podcast and you had issues with something that he said.
He's not only a contemporary and a colleague, but he
was the president of the players Associated at a particular
moment in time. Don't get me started with ketching Perkins.
He ain't got no reason to talk about you either.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Huh. He was your teammate. He was in the locker.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
All right, stephen A. In the locker room, he was.
We're in the same uniform, went to the finals. When
you went to the finals, your teammate. How about Dennis Shrudder.
He brings up European basketball players and how they're not
(18:10):
about the sizzle, they're about the fundamentals.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
And you went at him in the.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
International basketball community because they of the position he expressed.
Not to mention fans in Denver who are rooted for
your kitchen, who obviously is the best thing. They had
some sliced bread, Channa sharp. You went at them too.
Remember little b when you the presided to depart from
(18:39):
Oklahoma City to go to go to say, I.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Mean, damn, can anyone say something?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
I mean, if it's really just about showering you with
praise and that's it, otherwise we all in trouble, say so,
say so. But I just mentioned players past that, president,
(19:09):
rap artists, media pundits, commentators. I didn't even bring up
the fans. You got burner accounts, brou I mean, I'm
proud of you for putting your nature it coming at
me like that, at least I know it was you.
(19:33):
I am critical of Kevin Durant only from the standpoint
that with that money and that greatness comes great responsibility,
the conter responsibility that should have us watching you. At
(19:55):
least in May. You've been swept to it the last
three years. You got swept by Boston, you got swept
by Minnesota. You would have got swept your first year
in Denver.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
In Phoenix, maybe not swept, but you probably would have lost.
If Kawhi Lennett had it got hurt. He did drop
thirty eight game one, thirty one game two. Even without
Paul George, the Clippers were giving y'all some business.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It was tied one to one, and then all of
a sudden, Kawhi Leonard disappeared, couldn't play no more.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
There's a legitimate argument that could be made that y'all
could have been gone.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Your team led by you could have been.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
Going in the first round last three years. I'm talking basketball,
ladies and gentlemen. I'm not getting personal here. I'm talking basketball,
and I'm not clapping back at Kevin Durant because he he'
at me. He has every right to come at me
(21:02):
because I was talking about him. He has every right.
I take no offense with him clapping back. I'm just saying,
be factual. Mike Budenholds had just got in Phoenix. You
weren't pissed off at Frank Vogel last year when issues
involving separate team busses that I ain't gonna get into.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Come on, bro, you didn't have.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
The greatest relationship with Steve Kerb, but you ended up
playing with him for the Olympics or playing for him.
I'm making that up. It's just basketball. We're talking basketball.
That's the deal. That's all it happened. I got nothing negative. See,
(21:55):
even if I I don't get personal like that. And
I got mad love for Kate, the mad respect for him.
You don't want to talk, you don't want to talk.
I won't miss you. I'm not gonna lose any sleep
over you, bro. I talk to people who want to
talk to me. I show love to people who want
to show love to me. If you don't, I won't
miss you. But I'm gonna do my job. And my
(22:17):
job is to talk about basketball. And you want to
talk about what I haven't done, then why don't you
get my resume?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Google me?
Speaker 1 (22:25):
But you know you don't need to because you did
that already. That's why you called me for your documentaries.
I'm gonna leave it at that. I don't really have
to say more than that.
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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