Kyrie Irving ruffled a lot of feathers when he decided to skip NBA Media Week and instead released a statement through a spokesperson. Some were even led to believe the Nets point guard was going to avoid talking to the media for all of 2020-21.
When it came time for Stephen A. Smith to address the matter on ESPN’s First Take, he first said he was going to be diplomatic. Then, in a matter of seconds, he said “I’m not gonna hold back” — and he certainly didn’t.
“Kyrie Irving should not be forced to engage with the media,” Smith said. “he doesn’t wanna talk to the media? Fine. We won’t miss him. But here’s the reality: he should be fined every damn day he doesn’t talk. Because you signed a contractual agreement — it comes along with your contract as an NBA player.
“This notion that you just get to go out on the basketball court and play, but you don’t answer questions, you don’t take to the media, whatever — understand what the media is. The media is a conduit to assist the NBA and its players in promoting its brand. That way it facilitates in generating more revenue, so guys like Kyrie can get paid $33.4 million this year, $35 million next season and then a player option to help pay him $36 million in 22-23, even though you [are] fresh off of playing 20 games last season.”
But that was just the tip of the iceberg. What came next — after saying he thinks Irving is a good person — felt like one of Smith’s most emotional rants, at least in recent memory.
“I think he’s immature, I think that he’s occasionally selfish, and I think at this particular moment in time, he comes off as a damn snob,” Smith said. “He thinks people are beneath him and he’s above it. He looks at the media as being inauthentic. That’s what he thinks about the media. Everything that has happened to Kyrie Irving, Kyrie Irving has self-inflicted. Go back and look at the tapes. Quote him. It’s always the media. Always.
“You got something to say about LeBron [James]? It’s the media. You got something to say about your time in Boston? It’s the media. You got something to say about wanting to move on? It’s the media. You’re in Brooklyn. Nobody has thought about you since the spring. You haven’t played. The season was halted — you wasn’t playing before then. You had shoulder surgery, and then you’re not even participating in the bubble because you’re re-cooperating from your right shoulder. And still, you wanted to sit up there and implement yourself in the proceedings by talking about how the games should not be played. You weren’t playing anyway — while collecting $33 million. And then when people responded, it’s the media.”
Smith continued:
“You go on Kevin Durant’s podcast and literally state — which we’ll get into later — but literally state, you know what? Hey, you’re [Durant] the first guy that I looked at and I said, ‘Hey, I trust you to make the last shot,'” he said. “And the media made up that LeBron might have a problem with that — damn, you was taking a shot at LeBron. And you go on social media and literally state, ‘Hey, well you know what? If I had something to say about him, I would say their name.’ Like, how dare us connect the dots and say one plus one equals two. You won a championship with the brotha in 2016, farbeit for us to come to the conclusion that oh my god, you mighta been talking about LeBron. Who else did you play with? Jayson Tatum? Jaylen Brown? That’s who you were talking about? Not LeBron, who you on a ‘chip with? Who happens to be the greatest player in the world for the past decade?
“In Kyrie’s world, it’s always us. It’s never him. No matter what he says, no matter who he says it to. No matter what.”