Stephen A. Smith has made it clear he does not agree with Kyrie Irving’s idea that the NBA should not resume the 2019-20 season while the Black Lives Matter movement has the attention of the entire country. On Friday, the ESPN personality stated on his show, First Take, that Irving and Dwight Howard have “been foolish as I am concerned.”
Smith made clear that talking about the matter isn’t going to resolve things alone. He explained how prominent figures like Irving bring attention to the issue, “then you hand it off to people that know what to do.”
Retired NBA forward Stephen Jackson didn’t agree with Smith’s comments. He feels Irving is in the right and called out the ESPN personality for what he said.
Smith responded to Jackson on social media, maintaining, “I disagree with Kyrie.”
I believe in this instance, even though Kyrie Irving is a knowledgable and good brother, in this instance, I don’t think he displayed his knowledge about this.
Smith also highlighted some of the necessary steps to direct the movement forward, while adding he hasn’t heard any of that from the Brooklyn Nets point guard:
I didn’t hear that from Kyrie. All Kyrie said was, ‘Systemic racism, I ain’t down for it. I ain’t playing.’ That’s not good enough. You gotta have a plan when you [are] planning on not showing up to work to do your job, and it can’t just be racial oppression vaguely. You got to be specific, bro. I stand by what I said. I meant every word I said.
This is in response to @DaTrillStak5 from earlier today. https://t.co/CpGDymGIqv pic.twitter.com/82LQ86MZfD
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 15, 2020
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