Stephen A. Smith had been very critical of Draymond Green after he punched Phoenix Suns’ Jusuf Nurkić during a game. However, during a recent appearance on The Big Podcast with Shaq, Draymond Green declared that he “lost respect” for the ESPN analyst after the latter criticized his character as a man. After a response on ESPN’s First Take, Smith recently touched upon how Green has ‘selective amnesia‘ as he has forgotten the numerous times that his “brother” vouched for him amidst a sea of criticism.
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Smith posited that the comments were “unbecoming” of the 4x All-Star and expressed that his “disappointments” are now unbounded. The 55-year-old argued that he has defended the 2017 DPOY numerous times despite the latter being the second-most ejected athlete in NBA history in a span of nine months.
Smith also pointed out on the recent episode of his Stephen A. Smith Show, that while his former teammate Kevin Durant wanted Green to “get help” after hitting Nurkic in December 2023, he still defended the Warriors Forward.
To bring his point home, the veteran analyst argued that even Green’s coach Steve Kerr, and his former GM Bob Myers weren’t defending him as much as he did.
“I don’t appreciate selective amnesia...I can’t believe the bullsh*t that he [Green] spewed out of his mouth…Ask Steve Kerr, the coach of the Golden State Warriors, ask Bob Myers, the former GM, the former President of Basketball for Operations who is my colleague on NBA Countdown now. They would accuse me of damn near compromising my integrity because of how often I came to the defense of Draymond Green,” Stephen A. Smith said on his podcast.
Then the disappointed analyst revealed that Green’s comments rubbed “him the wrong way” because he could have easily called him, as the two share a personal relationship. While these comments on his pod were unfiltered, the initial reaction from Stephen A. Smith on ‘First Take’ also exuded a similar sentiment.
Stephen A. Smith can’t believe Draymond Green called out him out
On ‘First Take’, Stephen A. Smith responded to these comments and claimed that he “has an abundance of receipts” showcasing his support for Draymond Green. He once again brought out the wave of comments that called for Green to seek “help”. As a “Black man” and his “brother”, Smith had shut down those narratives in a jiffy.
“When you had people talking about anger management, talking about he needs help, I was the one who said, ‘Yo, that’s going too damn far,’” Stephen A. Smith told Molly Qerim.
Then Smith addressed the comments that had perturbed Green. In the aftermath of Green’s second suspension in December 2023, which caused him to miss multiple months, Smith had stated that the oft-ejected forward was indeed “out of control” and needed to get his act together. As per the ESPN analyst, these comments weren’t harsh and were respectful in that environment.
He reminded Green that after his second suspension, the Forward himself admitted needing help and also contemplated retirement.
While Stephen A. Smith can certainly engage in some uncalled-for bashing, in this case, he does have a strong argument. When Draymond Green landed in multiple troubles, he indeed went out of his way to shield himself against stronger punitive measures.
But now to come out and throw Smith under the bus seems like not the ideal approach to sustain a professional working relationship with the ESPN host.
