Stephen A. Smith has been a major critic of Kawhi Leonard for the past few years. He has questioned Leonard’s commitment to the NBA as the 2x Finals MVP has missed a ton of games during his Los Angeles Clippers tenure. In an awkward moment during the NBA Finals, the ESPN analyst joked about Leonard’s persistent unavailability while Paul George was sitting beside him on live television.
George laughed awkwardly while the incident transpired on NBA Countdown and mildly protested the jibe. However, later on, the 34-year-old revealed in his podcast that he wished that Stephen A. Smith refrained from making such negative comments about his long-term teammate.
PG also clarified that The Klaw wants to play every game but his injuries have forced him to be sidelined. Therefore, the veteran analyst should have shown sensitivity towards his mate, who isn’t sitting out because he wants to.
On his The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith recently played the clip where George conveyed his displeasure about the ridiculing comments towards his teammate and then addressed them. He apologized to PG for putting him in an uncomfortable situation.
The 56-year-old admitted that in hindsight, he made a mistake and had forgotten about the friendly relationship between the teammates. Stephen A. said,
“Paul George is right…I put him in a bad spot…I do owe him an apology for that as a professional, that’s Kawhi Leonard’s teammate and it was the farthest thing from my mind, thinking about how Paul would look on the set with us cause I’m just being light-hearted and having a good time.”
Subsequently, Smith said that he brought up the topic because ESPN had just told him that Leonard will not be available for the Olympics as well. That’s why he got carried away by the moment without caring about the optics.
However, after issuing multiple apologies to PG-13, Stephen A. hummed the same old tune about Leonard. He acknowledged that Leonard’s injuries were indeed serious but also pointed out that Clippers star has always demanded a lot of money for his services and has also steered the franchise in the manner that suits him.
Smith reminded folks that the 2x Finals MVP forced the Clippers to bring in Paul George. Thus, with such lofty ultimatums, Stephen A. expected Leonard to appear more frequently than he has done throughout his Clippers tenure. After all, in retrospect, the team gave up 2024 MVP Finalist Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to land George.
The Clippers Forward has been dealing with a serious knee inflammation. He played in 60+ games for the first time in his Clippers tenure but then his knees gave out with the 2024 playoffs on the cusp.
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