“Kyrie Irving should announce his retirement today”: Stephen A Smith rips into Nets star for ‘going off the grid’, wants him to stop playing basketball

Stephen A Smith has launched an all-out assault on Kyrie Irving following video evidence emerging of him partying while going ‘off the grid’.

Irving did himself no favors with the media by calling them ‘pawns’ ahead of the start of the season. He also engaged in a media boycott, an act he was fined for by the NBA. The Nets guard seemed to have put this behind him after a good start to the season.

But trouble is never far from Kyrie, and hasn’t been over the last 5 years or so. The 6’2″ guard last played an NBA game 8 days ago in a win against Utah. He then went off the grid without informing even head coach Steve Nash about his intentions.

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Now that video footage of him celebrating his family’s birthdays has emerged, Irving is in a tight spot. He’s currently being investigated by the league office for breaking Covid protocol.

Stephen A Smith launches full frontal assault on Kyrie Irving

On today’s episode of First Take, Stephen A laid out all his pent-up frustration at Kyrie. He was asked whether Irving is ‘worth all this drama’, and he went right into it:

“No, he’s not worth it at all. As a matter of fact, let me say this straight up and down: I think Kyrie Irving should retire. I think he should announce his retirement today. Clearly you don’t want to play basketball bad enough.”

“Kyrie Irving has not prioritized basketball. I’m not saying he doesn’t want to play it altogether. How fair is that to the Brooklyn Nets? How fair is it to Sean Marks? To Steve Nash – a coach that he endorsed. How fair is that to his brother, Kevin Durant?”

“I think Kyrie Irving should retire. I think he should announce his retirement today.”@stephenasmith got right to the point 😳

(via @FirstTake) pic.twitter.com/RKRXpkTx7Q

— ESPN (@espn) January 13, 2021

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Stephen A prefaced his nuance with a pretty bad take. But overall he’s right – Irving should think more of the people who’ve put him in such a great position.