‘I lost respect for him,’ says Stephen A. Smith as furious First Take analyst fires back at NBA star Draymond Green

ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith fired back at Draymond Green in a scathing on-air rant.

The Golden State Warriors star called out Stephen A. during a recent podcast appearance with NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal.

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Green was involved in several on-court altercations and received multiple suspensions during the difficult 2023-24 season.

He claimed he was “annoyed” with Stephen A. for comments he made about his suspension last fall following an incident with Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic.

“The reason he pissed me off was because he hit me [up] and said, ‘Hey, it’s been hard for a lot of us to talk about you the last few days,” Green said. The great podcast with Shaq.

“Well, it was hard for me to watch… sit back and watch those who claim to know me and appreciate me as a human being, just explode at the narrative which was easy to do.

“I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people.”

Stephen A. wasted no time in calling out Green during Thursday’s first take.

Just seconds into his performance, the 56-year-old interrupted host Molly Qerim to “tell America something.”

“I saw what Draymond Green said about me,” said Stephen A., “I’ll respond. I’ll leave it at that – let’s go.”

Later in the show, Stephen A. blurted it out.

“I saw it for the first time this morning,” sighed Stephen A., beginning a speech that lasted several minutes.

“If I had seen it last night before recording my podcast, let’s just say my delivery and presentation would have been different.

“Draymond Green just went on a national podcast with Shaquille O’Neal, my brother, and said he lost respect for me.

“Well, now I’ve lost respect for him.

“I love this brother, I have crazy love for Draymond Green.

“I received an abundance of receipts – and Molly, you can be proof of this – where I defended [him].

Stephen A. Smith’s journey through the media

STEPHEN A. Smith is now the face of ESPN and executive producer of First Take, having initially started working for the company in 2003.

Smith has held numerous roles at the network, including radio show host, contributions to SportsCenter and appearance on NBA Countdown.

He was a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1994 to 2010.

He started as an NBA writer before becoming a general sports columnist.

Prior to that, Smith worked as a reporter at the Winston-Salem Journal, the Greensboro News and the New York Daily News.

“It’s been countless times. This man has been ejected from games 20 times in his career. Only Rasheed Wallace has been ejected more.

“In a nine-month period last year, Draymond Green was suspended four times.

“I love this brother, I think he’s a great person…but sometimes he seemed out of control on the basketball court.”

Smith claims he defended Green after his infamous confrontation with Nurkic last season.

“We’re on First Take. We have about 12 to 15 segments a day. About 70 to 75 takes a week,” he continued.

“I do over 3,000 takes a year on this show alone. I’ve done more than 40,000 takes throughout my career.

“You would think that I won’t be able to make everyone happy with every syllable that comes out of my mouth.

“But I pride myself on being fair.”

“Stephen A is in love with Draymond on First Take this morning,” gasped one viewer on X as Smith’s rant continued.

“Oh Lord, first off, it feels like a soap opera right now,” wrote another.

Green, 34, spent his entire NBA career with the Warriors.

He is a four-time NBA champion and was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2017.

Following an incident in December in which he struck Nurkic in the face, Green was suspended from the league indefinitely.

Green served a 12-game suspension before returning to the court in January.