Every good sports pundit has a professional athlete that’s their arch-enemy.
Skip Bayless is the conductor of the LeBron James hate train, and Stephen A. Smith is always prepared to critique Kyrie Irving. But Smith’s constant rants about Irving have left many wondering if there’s more between the two sports figures than just basketball-related tit-for-tats.
Now, it turns out, for Smith, it’s a personal issue, which he admitted to on The Mike Missanelli Podcast Tuesday.
“Now Kyrie and I have our differences on a personal level, which is none of anybody’s business, and I’ll never tell why. He knows why. And his daddy knows why,” Smith said about his issues with Irving and his father, Drederick. “They know how I feel about how they’ve acted towards me, and they know how I feel about them, and I know how they feel about me.”
The First Take host did caution that despite the personal issues, it’s never affected how he speaks on Irving’s standings purely as a basketball player and current member of the Dallas Mavericks.
“But I can say that to anybody out there because I know that that does not interfere with my reporting on him and my perspective based off of the facts,” he added.
Smith didn’t reveal details or the reason for his beef with the Irving family.
Irving was also the subject of a heated debate between Smith and Jay Williams during a First Take debate in February. It got so heated that Williams questioned why Smith always harps on Irving’s mishaps.
“You’re the one saying I’m being sensitive, moaning and whining, but you’re the one that seems very emotional right now over the subject matter,” Williams said. “Come on now. I’m not sitting up here on national TV absolving Kyrie Irving of every decision. I’m just saying how it’s interesting to me, it just carries such a bigger momentum, in particular with you! Moreso than anybody else, Stephen A!”
See how Twitter’s reacting to Stephen A. Smith…
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