Stephen A. claps back at Draymond losing respect for him originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
Two prominent NBA figures who were once allies through the media are now publicly feuding over comments about an incident that occurred more than five months ago.
Warriors forward Draymond Green joined Shaquille O’Neal on the latest episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq“, which was released on Wednesday, where he criticized ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith for his comments about him following the veteran forward’s indefinite suspension for hitting Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić in the face in a 2012 game. December.
“Stephen A. Smith really pissed me off,” Green told Shaq. “And the reason he pissed me off was because he hit me, he said ‘Hey, it’s been hard for a lot of us to talk about you the last few days.’ You know, for me, I’m like… OK, it’s been hard for me to watch, but I’m watching because I want to see everything everyone has to say.
“But what pissed me off is that you told me it’s been difficult for you guys to talk about me. Stephen A. Every time I meet someone and they say something about you, it’s never like ‘Hey, I like him. Cool.’ It’s always ‘man, fuck man, he’s a character’, he’s this, he’s that. And I always say back ‘I really know the guy, the guy is a really good guy. on the TV screen, I actually know the guy and he’s a real nice guy.
“And so you have the opportunity to talk about me and listen, I know you have a job to do, I know you have to do what you want and say what you say, but at no point did you say ‘everyone is saying that this person is screwed and needs help, now I know the person. Now say what you want about the basketball player, that’s fine, but I know the person. But to sit back and watch those who claim to know and appreciate me as a human being just flow along with the narrative because it was easy to do, I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people.”
Smith, in a seven-minute segment on Thursday’s episode of “First Take,” issued a fiery response to Green’s comments. You can watch the full response below, but here’s the TL;DR version.
“Draymond Green just went on a national podcast with Shaquille O’Neal, my brother, and said he lost respect for me,” Smith said. “Well, now I’ve lost all respect for him. I love this brother, I have a mad love for Draymond Green. I have plenty of receipts where I can show you, and Molly [Qerim] Can you be proof of this, how many times have I defended Draymond Green? Have been countless times. This man has been ejected from games 20 times in his career. Only Rasheed Wallace, another brother of mine, was ejected for more games in his NBA career…
“And when he knocked [Jusuf] Nurkić, I was the one on the air, you can attest to that, Molly, when there were people talking about anger management. Talking about ‘he needs help’. I was the one who said ‘Hey, this is going too far.’ I was the one who had issues with Kevin Durant saying ‘I hope he gets the help he needs’. I said he’s a brother, he’s another teammate, you know he’s black and you know what that has to do with it. Why would you say something like that?”
Smith then showed the receipts, asking the show’s producers to play an old clip from “First Take” where he repeated exactly what he said he did and explained that he had defended Green numerous times in the past and would have appreciated it if he reached out to him privately. instead of publicly calling him out on Shaq’s podcast.
“I’m simply saying that the important point to make is that we talk about being men,” Smith added. “I’m not hard to find. Draymond could have called me, Draymond could have talked to me, I don’t need to find that out on Shaq’s podcast when the world knows he’s wrong. I didn’t do that.
“Are you going to give a sound bite? You know how many positive things I’ve said about Draymond Green. You know how many times I’ve come to Draymond Green’s defense about his character in the league office, in the media, in the newsroom, in podcasts, in several interviews I did? I never stopped supporting him. And all I’m saying is if you have a problem with me, let a brother know.
The two have developed a close relationship over the years and will likely end their feud at some point. But as of now, it looks like they still have a lot to work out.
