ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith took his beef with Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant to another level on ESPN First Take today. After Durant said that one of Smith’s recent reports was a lie, Smith said that Durant doesn’t want to get on his bad side.
This back-and-forth started last week when Smith claimed that Durant would be interested in joining the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency. But then Durant told NewsOK.com that this was bunk because Smith doesn’t talk to anyone in his inner circle.
“So he’s lying,” Durant said, adding that Smith could always just ask him a question if he wants to talk to him. “But like I said before, 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 responded to that on Twitter with a long tweet, insisting that he is not lying and that he never said his sources were people close to Durant. It sounded like that could be the end of this, especially since Durant never said anything beyond his comments to NewsOK.com.
But apparently, Smith still had some venom building up that he needed to get out of his system. In video from today’s episode of First Take posted at Deadspin, Smith gave a strongly-worded speech directed at Durant.
“The sensitivity that these guys are showing, they are making unnecessary enemies I am not one of them. I won’t be. I got too much love and respect for who these guys are, and what they mean to my community. But I will say this lastly. You don’t want to make an enemy out of me,” Smith said, before making a dramatic pause.
He continued, “And I’m looking right into the camera. And I’mma 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 then, Smith tweeted that his speech was not a threat to Durant.
screenshot from First Take YouTube video