ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith went viral Wednesday after he said Clippers star Kawhi Leonard should be forced into retirement after missing the final three games of his team’s first-round series against the Suns.
But retired NBA veteran JJ Redick, who now works as an analyst for the network, clearly did not appreciate Smith’s comments regarding Leonard on Wednesday’s episode of First Take.
“I mean this in the nicest way possible to both of you, but listening to each of you right now, it’s very obvious that you’ve played zero high-level basketball, and you do not understand the requirements of doing that, and I do mean that in a nice way,” Redick told Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo.
.@jj_redick responds to @stephenasmith saying Kawhi Leonard needs to be forced into retirement: pic.twitter.com/OrkcQRMclc
— First Take (@FirstTake) April 26, 2023
The former NBA star questioned when whether Smith felt “empathy” for Leonard having gone through various injuries in recent years.
“I understand the frustration with the load management issue, what we’re talking about here, and questioning his injury, and you say ‘I’m not questioning his injury,’” Redick said. “You just said ‘We saw Paul George get hurt; we didn’t see Kawhi get hurt.’ Let’s give the guy some credit, he did it in Game 1. He went out there and battled in Game 2. Guess what? If he could play, he would play.”
Leonard missed the final three games of the Suns series due to what was later revealed to be a torn meniscus. The Suns won Game 5 on Tuesday night to eliminate the Clippers from the playoffs.
