“LeBron James won a championship with no stars”: Stephen A Smith calls out Scottie Pippen for disrespecting Kyrie Irving’s 2016 NBA Finals performances

Stephen A Smith and Scottie Pippen are having a back-and-forth on Twitter regarding how good Kyrie Irving was in Cleveland.

It didn’t look like we would forget the player who hit arguably the most clutch shot in NBA history so soon. But here we are, trying to make sense of what logic Scottie Pippen is pursuing. For the Bulls legend’s Twitter has been a factory of hot takes in the past few hours.

We get that Scottie was a great playmaker and a great defender during his time. This means that he clearly has elite basketball IQ, so he should be able to notice stuff that casuals don’t. But his propensity to dismiss how scoring and scorers are integral today is his undoing.

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Pippen has been getting his fair share of the press of late. He’s promoting a new book he’s penning – an autobiography focused on his Bulls years and relationships with those teammates. He’s also promoting his new bourbon brand on different shows.

Perhaps this is what is prompting Scottie to take up all these debates for inexplicable reasons. Pippen is certainly the type to flip-flop on his takes every so often – as proved by his opinions on the GOAT debate.

Stephen A Smith and Scottie Pippen debate how important Kyrie Irving was to the 2016 Cavs

The Cleveland Cavaliers required Kyrie Irving to go off in games 5,6 and 7 to stand a chance of overcoming the overwhelming 3-1 deficit staring them in the face in 2016. But somehow, it isn’t enough for Kyrie to qualify as capable star help for LeBron James.

That’s exactly the take that the Bulls legend went with on his Twitter this morning. And he got a ton of flak for it, including from Stephen A Smith of all people.

@stephenasmith @KingJames won a championship without any help

— Scottie Pippen (@ScottiePippen) June 25, 2021

2016 Finals my man… which other star was out there with LeBron? @stephenasmith https://t.co/TrynpLnL8N

— Scottie Pippen (@ScottiePippen) June 25, 2021

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I already told you, Man! Who the hell is Kyrie Irving to you? Slava Medvedenko? https://t.co/Tfg3UrhQ86

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 25, 2021

The ‘f*** Kyrie’ train is one that NBA fans and hot take artists usually board. But its jarring to see Scottie Pippen be so dismissive of his role in winning them a championship.

Make no mistake – there were fewer than 10 players in the NBA who would’ve come up big like Kyrie in those games. And fewer still who would’ve put Klay Thompson and Steph Curry on highlight reels with such regularity.

Pippen might be a great basketball player, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t view his basketball takes with a grain of salt. The man has logical inconsistencies galore.