Journalist’s threat to NBA superstar

A MAJOR drama is brewing in the NBA, with one of ESPN’s most prominent personalities taking on one of the game’s biggest stars.

A MAJOR drama is brewing in the NBA, with one of ESPN’s most prominent personalities, Stephen A. Smith, taking on one of the game’s biggest stars, Kevin Durant.

It began last Thursday when Smith said during ESPN’s First Take that Durant is leaning toward joining the Los Angeles Lakers, not his hometown Washington Wizards, if he doesn’t stay in Oklahoma City.

The normally mild-mannered Durant lashed out about the report on Friday.

“I don’t talk to Stephen A. Smith at all,” Durant told Oklahoman beat writer Anthony Slater. “Nobody in my family, my friends, they don’t talk to Stephen A. Smith. So he’s lying.

“I have people who I talk to about everything and I know for a fact they didn’t talk to him, so he’s making up stories.”

Smith was livid about Durant’s “uncalled for” assault on his credibility, saying he used other sources for his report and angrily suggested Durant needs an attitude adjustment.

“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,” Smith wrote.

“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.

“Don’t know what has happened to Mr. Durant over the years. … 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.”

Kevin Durant is filthy with Stephen A. Smith.

‘YOU DO NOT WANT TO MAKE AN ENEMY OUT OF ME’

That brings us to the latest instalment of Smith vs Durant, in which the ESPN journo made an incredible threat to the NBA superstar on air.

“You don’t want to make an enemy out of me,” Smith said on First Take today.

“And I’m looking right in the camera, and I’m gonna say it again. You do not want to make an enemy out of me. I’m not having it. I’ve done nothing wrong and I’m not going to tolerate it.”

Smith insisted he said “nothing offensive” about Durant, adding: “I still stand here today telling you he’s a good dude — but he’s wrong.

“And the guys that put him up to it ... with the chirping behind my back all the time ... they’re wrong too. And the sensitivity that these guys are showing, they are making unnecessary enemies.”

Watch Stephen A. Smith’s outburst in the video below

In the initial report, Smith had said in addition to the Lakers (and Wizards and Heat), the Knicks could be an option for Durant, joining Carmelo Anthony and possibly Kobe Bryant if he leaves the Lakers.

“I heard Melo, Kevin Durant, Kobe,” Smith said. “And when you take into account that Phil Jackson is on the record saying it might be Kobe’s last year in LA — opening the door that there are possibilities for him to go elsewhere — all I’m saying is you just never know.”

According to Durant, Smith knows even less than that.

Originally published as Journalist’s threat to NBA superstar