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Hot Take: Stephen A. Smith Makes An Enemy Out Of Kevin Durant

By Jeremy Lambert

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Last week, a report came from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith that Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant would consider heading to Los Angeles and joining the Lakers when his current contract expires after this season. When asked about the rumor by Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman, Durant said, “I don’t talk to Stephen A Smith at all. Nobody in my family, my friends, they don’t talk to Stephen A Smith. So he’s lying.”

Durant may’ve overstepped his boundaries a bit when he called Smith a liar, but Smith’s response really crossed the line. On Monday’s edition of First Take, Smith warned Durant by saying, “But I will say this lastly. You don’t want to make an enemy out of me. And I’m looking right at the camera and I’m going to say it again. You do not want to make an enemy out of me.  I’m not having it. I’ve done nothing wrong. And I’m not going to tolerate it.” And continued by threatening him, saying, “This implication that I don’t know stuff? Y’all better think twice about that… I can find out in ten minutes at a basketball arena then I can on the phone with fifty different people inside two weeks. Think about that and ask yourself do you really want to go there.”

For some reason, ESPN is fine with what Smith said, even promoting the video on their website.

Let’s first back track to Smith’s original report that Durant would leave OKC for Los Angeles. Rumors like this are going to pop up all season when it comes to KD, even though I’m already tired of them, I know that they’re just beginning.

When it comes to rumors, the first thing you have to do is look at the source. Smith’s biggest claim to fame, besides his hot takes on First Take, is reporting that LeBron James would join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. It was a huge “get” at the time and Smith was universally praised. Since then, he’s done less reporting and more yelling. His comments about domestic violence, hinting that it’s a woman’s fault that they get hit, has landed him in hot water before and his constant defending of Floyd Mayweather and his domestic violent past, once again blaming the victim, pretty much tells you the kind of person Stephen A is. 

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Also consider that he works for ESPN. The worldwide leader does a lot of things well, but breaking news isn’t one of them. They are routinely out-hustled by Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski when it comes to breaking NBA news. Just the other week ESPN reported that the Cleveland Cavaliers had signed Tristan Thompson to a three-year deal worth $53 million. That report turned out to be false and, instead of coming out and saying that the report was false, ESPN just changed the wording a bit to make it seem like their report wasn’t completely wrong.

Durant immediately denied the report when it was brought up to him. Not exactly shocking. There aren’t many players in the league who would acknowledge a rumor that states they’re going to leave the current team that they’re on, especially when they’re still under contract to that team for another year, and go elsewhere. Durant’s strong denial spoke volumes. Instead of brushing off the rumor, he questioned how Smith even got the information and flat out called him a liar. When it comes to Durant and his future, I’m going to believe Durant himself over Stephen A.

Obviously, Smith would never give up his source or sources, but his response to Durant was ignorant and childish. I understand being heated at being called a liar, but Smith could’ve simply said, “I don’t appreciate being called a liar by Durant, but I stand by what I reported.” That would’ve been the end of it.

But Stephen A., being Stephen A., cut a villainous promo and ended it with a threat.

How can ESPN continue to back a guy who, when he’s seen at NBA games, could be snooping around and looking for dirt on one of the league’s top players? There’s no way he can be allowed to cover any Thunder game as he’s made his intentions very clear.

Some people in sports media like to pretend that there wouldn’t be sports without them because if there’s a game and no one is covering it, is anyone really watching it? The truth is, most fans don’t really care what sports media has to say. They couldn’t care less if there are reporters at the game there to deliver the latest cliche quote from their favorite athlete. As long as they can watch the game, and they’ll always be able to watch the game, guys covering the game or the athlete aren’t all that important.

Durant could really force ESPN’s hand here because they need him more than he needs them. Imagine if he decided to shut out ESPN from all access to him if they continue to employ Smith. Now imagine that his OKC teammates decided to back him. If Thunder are as good as they should be this year, ESPN is going to lose a lot of stories if they’re not able to cover the team from close proximity. And it’s not like ESPN will just pull all Thunder games from their broadcast schedule. We’ll see how valuable ESPN thinks Smith really is if Durant stoops to his level.

When Bill Simmons called Roger Goddell a liar, among other things, he was suspended for three weeks before they decided that they weren’t going to renew his contract. What Simmons said was relatively tame compared to Stephen A’s comments on Monday.

ESPN got out of the journalism business and into the opinion business a long time ago. But this is more than an opinion. This isn’t someone saying, “I don’t think Durant is a top five player in the league” or something of that nature. Having an opinion on a player is one thing, threatening a man like you’re some type of mob boss is something completely different.

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