In 2016, one of the NBA’s unprotesting players received a ton of flack from fans and commentators for a game-changing move. Kevin Durant traded in his Oklahoma City Thunder jersey for a Golden State Warriors uniform, which unsettled a few pundits, namely Stephen A. Smith.
In a tweet that amassed over 100,000 retweets, Smith called Durant’s decision to play for GSW “weak.” The First Take member said, “Don’t give a damn what anyone says: weak move by KD. You go to GSW, the team who beat you, when you’re already on a title contender? Please!”
Don’t give a damn what anyone says: weak move by KD. You go to GSW, the team who beat you, when you’re already on a title contender? Please!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) July 4, 2016
Now, Smith used the ESPN platform to revisit those comments thanks to Durant’s mother, Wanda. Although he remained steadfast in his initial tweet’s message, Smith expanded upon his opinion of KD’s move, which ultimately garnered him his first championship ring.
“He’s so great. He’s so great, joining that team, to me, was almost unfair,” Smith said per The Washington Post. “And we’ve witnessed his greatness and how lopsided it made things. That’s all.” Durant and the Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 129-120, recording the series at 4-1,
Durant then replied by saying, “I don’t think it’s fair to minimize what Kevin offers Golden State, and what they offered him, to say that it was the weakest move in NBA history.”
View the full exchange above.