“Be Better”: Kevin Durant Snaps at Fan After Respectfully Disagreeing with Stephen A. Smith

Kevin Durant played a huge role in the Phoenix Suns’ season opener win against the Los Angeles Clippers. His 25-point, 7-rebound, and 3-steal performance was enough for the Arizona side to record a 10-point comeback victory. Stephen A. Smith largely lauded KD for his performance, but he showed no faith in the Suns’ chances of making any noise this season.

The ESPN analyst admitted that he has a lot of respect for Durant’s talent and work ethic. He reiterated how he has always said that KD’s greatness is not up for debate. But on First Take, SAS was critical of Durant’s leadership.

And that’s the reason he provided to not have faith in the Suns. Because the two-time NBA Champion has displayed no ability to make his teammates better in his previous stints at Brooklyn and Oklahoma City.

“He’s been relatively leaderless. He’s been very lacking in inspiration in terms of peeling out from those around him whatever you can give him… Does he get the others around him to do it?” Smith said.

While he’s a great player, the 2014 MVP hasn’t taken active measures to motivate his team in crucial situations. He has not proven to be as vocal as other leaders in the league like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, or Jimmy Butler. Nor has any of his teammates shed light on his locker room presence.

Smith wasn’t wrong to criticize KD. But the 6ft 11” forward didn’t agree with this take. He replied with a respectful comment within a few hours of the original clip being posted.

“I would disagree stephen. I would argue, passionately, that my intangibles have always been on par with my talent,” Durant wrote.

In most cases, when retaliating to his naysayers, Durant has a harsher tone and even resorts to the usage of expletives at times. However, he was nice to Stephen A. while disagreeing. But KD had to forego the civility when a fan called him out.

@BigPapiPhenom felt the need to justify Smith’s claims. He tried refuting Durant’s “intangibles” comment by highlighting the inability to “speak up” on the court. “bro we just want you to speak up more sometimes it seems like you don’t hold team mates accountable until it’s too late,” he wrote.

The 36-year-old wasn’t as calm this time while replying to the fan, snapping at the latter for not knowing him well. “Brother, respectfully, you’ve never been in a gym with me to know if I need to speak up or not. You’re just guessing with no information on the subject. Be better,” KD added.

The Durantula needs to redeem himself after Phoenix’s humiliating sweep in the 2024 postseason. The Suns’ fans would hope that their star player uses this criticism of his leadership as another layer of motivation to prove his naysayers wrong.