UPDATE:
Stephen A. Smith just responded to Kevin Durant's comments from earlier today. Here's the statement he posted on Twitter:
Regarding @KDTrey5 and his negative comments about me, let me say this: At NO time did I ever say I SPOKE to K.D. Or his family. Or his brother, friends, teammates, etc. (although I can assure you all I have on several occasions in the past). I said I HEARD from folks I know -- in a league I've been covering for 19 years -- that if he were to leave OKC as a free agent, these are the cities I was told he was considering. OKC. LA. Miami. DC. NY. I stand by it all. And that is that.
His assertion that I was lying is not only FALSE, but totally uncalled for. Especially from a player who receives nothing but praise not only from me, but from practically every media member you can find. Yet, for some reason, we're all the same folks who don't know *&%$ about the game of basketball. Whose thoughts he could give a &^%$ about. Essentially, individuals he wishes he'd never have to talk to.....that he's being forced to tolerate.....as if someone has done something to him.....OF ALL PEOPLE!
Don't know what has happened to Mr. Durant over the years. But I know this much: We all win with his return, because he is an absolute superstar. The NBA is better with him. We're all at a loss without him.
It just appears that @KDTrey5 needs to learn something about today's world in professional sports:
We don't have to talk TO HIM to talk ABOUT HIM!
Folks like ME will still be here. Watching! Listening! Waiting! Reporting!
Whether he likes it or not. While he's here and long after he's gone.
Time to get use to it.
See original story below.
Stephen A. Smith appeared on ESPN's First Take this week and made the fairly wild proclamation that the Lakers would be Kevin Durant's preferred destination if he were to leave the Thunder in free agency at the conclusion of the upcoming season.
“Regardless of how senseless it may (sound)," Smith said. "In one breath I’m hearing that if Kevin Durant doesn’t stay in Oklahoma City, L.A. is his primary objective and landing spot as opposed to South Beach or even his home of Washington, D.C.”
On Friday, in an interview with The Oklahoman, Durant essentially issued the following response:
OK, there was a little more to it than that.
There was the first of these unnamed sourced free agency reports that we're expecting to come out throughout the season. The whole Lakers thing that Stephen A Smith came out with, do you have any response to that?
This is the second time in the past week or so that an ESPN personality has been called out for false reporting, with Tristan Thompson's contract situation being the subject of the previous mistake.
Durant has had an increasingly contentious relationship with the media recently. He told a large group of reporters "You guys really don't know shit" at All-Star weekend in New York back in February, and joined The Players' Tribune as a Deputy Publisher last week, presumably to control the reporting on his impending free agency so that it doesn't become a complete circus.
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[via The Oklahoman]
