Stephen A. Smith finally met his match.
The outspoken ESPN “First Take” pundit had a war of words with Kevin Durant’s mother, Wanda, during the 2017 NBA Finals over her son’s decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Golden State Warriors in free agency last offseason. So after the Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Finals on Monday night, securing her son’s first NBA championship, Wanda Durant stopped by the “First Take” set Tuesday morning, at which point Smith issued an apology.
Smith’s disapproval of Durant’s decision last offseason stemmed from the former Thunder star leaving the team the Warriors had just defeated in the Western Conference finals to join a superteam primed to contend for multiple NBA titles. He’s not alone in that sentiment, as many still view Durant as a frontrunner who took the easy way out, but there’s no denying just how good the eight-time All-Star was en route to earning NBA Finals MVP honors and leading Golden State to its second title in three years.
So for that, Smith said he was sorry, ending what had been an interesting little side rivalry during this year’s Warriors-Cavaliers “three-match.”
