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Looks like Kevin Durant and Stephen A. Smith may soon have beef again.
Smith went on a rant during Monday’s First Take at the prospect of Durant lacing up to return to the court during the Olympics. The Brooklyn Nets’ star forward is out the entire season from a ruptured Achilles injury he got in the NBA Finals last June with his former Warriors’ squad.
Durant is now signed to a four-year, $164 million deal with the Nets, where he joins Kyrie Irving.
READ MORE: Stephen A. Smith scores blockbuster new contract with ESPN
What seems to have set Smith off is an interview Rich Kleiman, Durant’s business partner, did with The Washington Post. He didn’t rule out Durant playing in the Olympics this summer.
“(Tokyo is) definitely a possibility,” Kleiman told The Post. “He allowed his name to be in the group of finalists. But there are other benchmarks in front of him that are more important before he makes those decisions.”
Smith addressed the topic on his show.
“I know KD don’t give a damn about what anyone thinks. He’s his own man, he’s going to do what he wants to do,” Smith started before getting to his problem with the scenario.
READ MORE: ESPN cuts to commercial after Stephen A. Smith starts political rant
“The Nets are paying him. This is a superstar, a two-time champion, a league MVP, damn it, that this game misses. All this talk about Kawhi (Leonard), LeBron (James), Giannis (Antetokounmpo) … I wish KD was out there,” Smith said. “I’d guarantee you he’d be averaging 27 and seven. I guarantee you Brooklyn would be one of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, if that brother was healthy. You are out for the year, totally understand.”
Smith says what he doesn’t get is how superstars aren’t first loyal to their bread and butter.
“I’m getting sick and tired of these guys in this respect, you do what you wanna do,” Smith said, before adding that superstar athletes “do what they wanna do” because they are making so much money and are in a financial position to do so.
READ MORE: Kevin Durant steps off court to bring sports business talk show to ESPN
“Who’s cutting those checks? It ain’t the Olympics. It ain’t USA basketball,” Smith said on First Take. “I need you on the court playing for those people paying you.”
“Now you come back and the first time folks see you is for Olympic basketball, how many damn gold medals do y’all need? I don’t want to hear that. Rick Kleiman stop it. I want KD on an NBA court first, period.”
This may stir up another feud between the two men. Smith and Durant exchanged words years ago when Durant chose to leave the Oklahoma Thunder for the Warriors. Durant called Smith “a liar” and his stories “BS” after Smith repeatedly questioned the move.
However last October, all appeared well when Smith made an appearance on Durant’s ESPN+ show, The Boardroom.
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