“Still got that same energy?”: Stephen A. Smith recalls face-to-face confrontation with Kyrie Irving about his dad during Lakers-Grizzlies game
Stephen A. Smith's relationship with Kyrie Irving and his father, Drederick Irving, has been up and down over the last few months. Stephen A. frequently ranted about Kyrie's off-court antics and unreliability as a franchise star when he dealt with controversies surrounding his antivaccination stance and promotion of an antisemitic film, among other reasons.
That drew Drederick's attention. His fatherly instinct came to the fold, leading him to defend his son Kyrie against Stephen A. The TV analyst has never revealed his issues with the father-son duo. However, during an appearance on Paul George's "Podcast P Show," Smith admitted the beef is done and dusted.
Smith revealed he had a face-to-face confrontation with Kyrie during a Lakers-Grizzlies game during the 2023 playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Here's what Smith said:
"His father and I are fine but it got to a point where it wasn't because unbeknownst to the public the father loving his son was coming to his defense by sending me text messages that quite frankly I didn't appreciate."
Stephen A. Smith then recalled getting confronted by Kyrie Irving at the Lakers-Grizzlies playoff game in LA. Here's what he said:
"We were at the Staples Center. Kyrie rolls up on me ... Taps me on the back and he's like, 'You still got that same energy face to face,' I said, 'I'm standing here you know.'"
Smith and Irving cleared the air about their personal issues and the ones involving the latter's father. Here's how the conversation went as per Stephen A.:
"He was like, 'It's really not about me anymore,' and I looked at him and I said, 'You're right.'"
Smith's attention had turned to Drederick Irving after the latter came to Kyrie's defense. They had confrontations centered around Kyrie, but the beef had turned into a personal issue between the TV analyst and the latter's dad.
Stephen A. Smith gives Kyrie Irving his flowers for making him realize his mistake
Stephen A. Smith is vocal, blunt and bold. However, the TV analyst doesn't shy away from admitting when he's in the wrong. Regarding his situation with Kyrie Irving and Drederick Irving, Smith was wrong to make it about the former when it really wasn't. Smith admitted that, saying:
"The shame of it is I'm 55, obviously, his father is around my age, and the younger son was the one that had to educate this is really about y'all."
Smith seemed to get personal several times about his rants against Kyrie Irving in the past. However, the "First Take" host and executive producer has maintained that he has stated facts and his opinions were coming from a place of being passionate about the subject.