Kyrie Irving is coming back to the Nets, which obviously sent Stephen A. Smith into a rant. But now the two parties are beefing on Twitter over it.
The Kyrie Irving saga just in the last week or two alone has had more twists and turns than a mountain road. Yet, the conclusion was the most anticlimactic possible as the mercurial guard elected to opt-in to his near $37 million contract with the Brooklyn Nets for the 2022-23 season, meaning there will be no trade in sight and he’ll suit up likely for the entire year.
This news, as you’d expect, triggered one of his biggest critics, Stephen A. Smith, to react to the news.
In doing so, the always outspoken ESPN pundit posted a video to Twitter in which he again criticized Irving for not going to work and now being forced to, calling him a “peon” multiple times throughout.
Kyrie Irving, Stephen A. Smith trading shots in Twitter beef
Irving then took to Twitter on Tuesday afternoon and responded directly to Smith, saying that he is “not around many 50 plus year olds that speak and act like you do” and criticizing the pundit’s approach to discussing the Nets star (and likely other players).
Never one to not get the last word, Smith then responded with a classic Notes app message that, admittedly, rambled quite a bit but basically told Irving that they could speak man-to-man about any issues they have with one another.
We really, really might be living in a simulation.
Ultimately, as is the case with most Stephen A. beefs on Twitter or otherwise, nothing is probably going to come of this dust-up between the Nets guard and ESPN personality. But that doesn’t make the drama any less entertaining.