Stephen A. Smith is one of the most outspoken personalities in all of sports. It doesn’t matter the situation or player, he calls it how he sees it.
And that is precisely what Smith has done for years with Kyrie Irving.
Smith has made his feelings about Irving no secret.
One person who wasn’t too happy with that? Irving’s dad.
During a recent appearance on Paul George’s podcast, Smith broke down the details of their beef and how it ended up being resolved.
Their differences aside, Kyrie made Stephen A. see the bigger picture pic.twitter.com/ELO2hMs0JP
— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) August 14, 2023
“His father and I are fine,” Smith said.
“But it got to that point because where it wasn’t, unbeknownst to the public, the father loving his son was coming to his defense by sending me text messages I didn’t really appreciate.
“We were at the STAPLES Center. Kyrie rolls up on me, he taps me on the back, and says, ‘You’ve got that same energy face-to-face?’ I said, ‘I’m standing here, ain’t I?’ Then he said, ‘It’s really not about me anymore.’ And I said, ‘You’re right’.
“It had become about me and his dad and how we elected to communicate with each other.”
And according to Smith, it was Irving’s intervention that helped him see the light.
“The shame of it is that I’m 55 and obviously, his father is around my age,” Smith continued.
“The younger son was the one that had to educate us. That’s what men do, Kyrie Irving was right, and I called his father and we met face to face, there was no problem.
“I said to him, ‘I’m still gonna judge your son by what I see. But this notion that there’s gonna be personal animus or whatever, I was just doing my job. If it looked different, that’s on me.'”
Smith is obviously no stranger to making headlines. Between his vacation with a mystery woman a few weeks ago and his brutally honest take on Skip Bayless, the man is a permanent fixture in the news cycle.
What an offseason for the Boston Celtics. https://t.co/cdcx1wKoHj
— Game 7 (@game7__) August 16, 2023
This was just the latest example of that.
How will Smith’s relationship with Irving and his dad evolve from here? Time will tell.
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Charles Kruger has been credentialed to cover two Super Bowls, four NBA Finals, and one World Series. A 20-year veteran in the sports world, he has sources spanning the NBA, MLB, NFL, UFC and NASCAR. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Calif., he is Game 7’s go-to source for rumors surrounding the Lakers, Clippers and Dodgers.
