“That Seems Backwards”: Ryan Clark Rips Kevin Durant for Telling NFL Vet Emmanuel Acho to Stick to Football

Former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho faced fury recently from Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant for his basketball take on Jayson Tatum and the Celtics-Knicks playoff series. Durant basically told Acho: Stick to your lane — you and other football guys are ruining the sport of basketball. But was the NBA star in the right?

Let’s start from the beginning. Tatum suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks. Arguably one of the best players in the NBA and the NBA’s highest-paid player, Tatum is a key piece to Boston’s success.

The team surprised a lot of people and forced a Game 6, defeating the Knicks 127-102 on May 14. This partially led to Acho, who is currently a sports analyst for Fox Sports, giving a controversial take on how the Celtics fared without Tatum. Acho explained why he thinks the Celtics have a better chance to win without the power forward. Enter Kevin Durant.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Durant called out Acho and other football analysts who transcend the border of one sport, telling them to ‘stay in their own lanes.’ Especially regarding basketball takes. He even referred to Acho as a dude who quit football, implying that he knows nothing about mental toughness.

This is what caused former NFL safety Ryan Clark to bring up an interesting take. He himself sometimes talks about basketball, so his point of view makes sense.

Clark tweeted, indirectly addressing Durant’s fiery response, saying that most analysts don’t have any prior sports experience, yet they can talk about multiple sports. But when a former athlete, like a football guy, talks about another sport, that’s unfair?

“Should analysts only be able to speak on a professional athlete if they played the same sport at the same level? If so, what are the 100’s of analysts who never played any sports professionally supposed to speak on? Many of those analysts talk about every sport without ever being inside a professional locker room of any kind. That seems backwards,” penned the former safety.

I’ve always wondered about this. When a former professional football player speaks on another sport in this case a former NFL player spoke on Basketball; a NBA player (All Star) told him to stick to football because he disagreed with his take.

Should analyst only be able to…

— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) May 16, 2025

In the sports media world, if what Durant said is true, then analysts such as Stephen A. Smith, Mina Kimes, and others who constantly cover and talk about sports wouldn’t be qualified to do so.

Also, let’s not forget that many successful coaches have never played the sports they now lead from the helm.