Kevin Durant and Stephen A. Smith. ZUMAPRESS/MEGA; Taylor Hill/WireImage
Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant made his feelings about Stephen A. Smith crystal clear after the ESPN personality questioned his leadership skills.
Following the Suns’ 103-97 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday, November 2, Durant, 36, was asked about the ongoing conversation surrounding his locker room authority, which was first brought to the table by Smith, 57, last month.
“Yeah, Stephen A., I don’t understand how people even listen to Stephen A.,” Durant told The Athletic. “I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I’ve never seen Stephen A. at a practice, or a film session, or a shoot-around. I’ve never seen him anywhere but on TV talking s— about players.”
Durant continued, “He’s a clown to me. He’s always been a clown. You can write that too.”
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The beef all started last month when Smith discussed the Suns’ championship potential during a segment on ESPN’s First Take.
“When you talk about Kevin Durant, this is what we’re not going to do, we’re not going to look at Kevin Durant and just measure him just in terms of his talent,” Smith said on the October 24 episode. “It’s about what ability you have to peel out of others.”
Smith added, “He’s been relatively leaderless. He’s been very lacking in inspiration in terms of peeling out from those around him whatever you can give him.”
Kevin Durant ZUMAPRESS/MEGA
During the segment, Smith further argued that Durant “should be able to be a better leader than he has shown.”
Durant is currently in his third season with the Suns after spending the previous 15 years of his NBA career with the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder and one season with the Seattle SuperSonics before they moved to OKC.
It didn’t take long for Durant to catch wind of Smith’s comments, responding just hours later via social media.
“I would disagree stephen,” Durant posted via X. “I would argue, passionately, that my intangibles have always been on par with my talent.”
In his conversation with The Athletic on Saturday, Durant acknowledged he has “things I need to work on” but pushed back against the narrative that he’s a lackluster leader, calling it “so vague and subjective.”
After Smith’s comments caught fire last month, Durant received the support of his head coach, Mike Budenholzer.
“I’ve been blown away with Kevin as a practice player,” said Budenholzer, who joined the Suns in May after spending the previous five seasons as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. “He goes hard, he goes hard in everything he does. I think that’s probably the most important thing to leadership, leading by example.”
Durant also garnered the praise of teammate Devin Booker, who has played alongside him during all three of Durant’s seasons in Phoenix.
“He’s one of the greatest to ever do it,” Booker, 28, told reporters in October. “He’s more vocal than what people say he is, but he also leads by example every day. He’s the loudest one in practice and first in every drill. The pace of his individual workouts is second to none.”