Stephen A. Smith Calls Kevin Durant 'Arrogant,' 'Disrespectful Toward Fans'
Ryan Mayer
ESPN First Take host Stephen A. Smith is known for his long monologues calling out various players, teams, and sports leagues for their wrongs over the years. It's a basic tenet of the debate show that he has called home at ESPN for many years, first alongside Skip Bayless and now with Max Kellerman.
One of the athletes that has found himself in Stephen A's sights repeatedly is Warriors forward Kevin Durant. Two years ago, Smith went after Durant when the then-Thunder star disputed a report that said he was going to the Lakers. Smith closed out his rant at the time by saying "you don't want to make an enemy out of me," thus beginning a feud between the two.
Two years later, it seems that feud is still going strong. Smith once again had Durant in his sights on Monday's edition of First Take as he responded to Durant's comments to fans who have found this year's NBA playoffs to be boring. Let's head to the tape:
For those unable to listen, a full transcription of Smith's comments is below via For The Win:
"He's aged. And along the process of aging, he's gotten more arrogant, he's gotten more disrespectful, he's gotten more dismissive — particularly of the fans. To be quite honest with you, he hasn't gotten smarter. And the reason why he hasn't gotten smarter is because the younger Durant never would have said something so flagrantly disrespectful towards fans."
Basically, Smith's premise is that Durant hasn't learned the importance of the fans as he has grown up in the league and that his attitude has become more "dismissive", "disrespectful" and "arrogant".
As we stated above, Smith has continued to be a vocal critic of Durant since the incident two years ago and was among those ripping him for joining the Warriors prior to this season. As for Durant, he hasn't responded to Smith's most recent comments yet, but, with the Warriors on the way to the NBA Finals, he may have bigger things on his mind.