Kyrie Irving has been in the news consistently over the past week, as his situation with the Brooklyn Nets seemingly deteriorated and then ended up being resolved when he opted into his $36 million player option. During that time, many personalities have given their opinion on Irving and there has been a lot of criticism going the way of the star point guard.
Perhaps his most vocal critic throughout this whole time has been ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who has called Kyrie out at various times. He questioned him for having issues with the Nets after failing to be available for a lot of their games and even gave Jalen Rose a bit of an earful for voting for Irving to be All-NBA Third Team.
Irving hasn’t had much to say in response to the things that Smith has said about him, but he has now taken to Twitter to call him out.
@stephenasmith you’re gonna have to explain yourself to people in your generation. I am not around many 50 plus year olds that speak and act like you do, so this is new for me. But I am sure my father and my uncles can meet you on your level better than I can. We know you STEPHEN
— Kyrie🤞🏾 (@KyrieIrving) June 28, 2022
“You’re gonna have to explain yourself to people in your generation. I am not around many 50 plus year olds that speak and act like you do, so this is new for me. But I am sure my father and my uncles can meet you on your level better than I can. We know you STEPHEN!”
This is not the first time a player has gone at Smith, and his response to this is sure to be interesting. SAS has long portrayed himself as an advocate for the people, so it’s unlikely that he will back down from this.
It doesn’t look like Irving himself will engage with Stephen A. Smith, although it’s clear that he has been paying attention to the things that have been said about him. Kyrie will likely be focused on his offseason now, with a lot to be done to prepare for next season. One way or another, the scrutiny on Irving next season will be quite high, and the only real way to shut the critics up is by performing on the basketball court.
