After plenty of speculation that his time with the Brooklyn Nets was on the verge of coming to an end, Kyrie Irving opted to pick up his player option worth $36.5 million for the 2022-23 campaign. The decision sparked a reaction from Stephen A. Smith that led to a back-and-forth with the Nets star on Twitter.
Smith did the thing he’ll occasionally do where he’s on vacation but decides to comment on a sports thing by recording a video and posting it to Twitter. If you’ve kept up with Smith’s general Irving thoughts, you will be aware his entire beef stems from — as he describes it — Irving not showing up to work. So this was basically at the core of his video, which included the word “peon” getting tossed around a lot.
KYRIE opted in!!! pic.twitter.com/89B4kzgJQG
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 28, 2022
It turns out Kevin Durant is not the only Nets player who is calling out Smith nowadays. After this video started making its way around the internet, Irving tweeted at Smith, who saw it a little more than half an hour later and busted out the notes app as a way to respond.
@stephenasmith you’re gonna have to explain yourself to people in your generation. I am not around many 50 plus year olds that speak and act like you do, so this is new for me. But I am sure my father and my uncles can meet you on your level better than I can. We know you STEPHEN
— A11Even (@KyrieIrving) June 28, 2022
Oh, you’ve got it twisted bro! Big time! @KyrieIrving https://t.co/sVt6KqvJs8 pic.twitter.com/pgaMbltEVX
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 28, 2022
We will see if Smith challenging Irving to a public debate comes to fruition, but our hunch is Irving has other things to do in his spare time. It would be pretty incredible if spite for Stephen A. Smith ended up being the common ground the Nets can all find that salvages everything this offseason and brings them together for next season.