Stephen A. Smith APOLOGIZES to Kyrie Irving after berating him for years

Kyrie Irving is finally playing basketball at the highest level without any distractions.

Stephen A. Smith APOLOGIZES to Kyrie Irving after berating him for years

After Kenny Smith's advice, Stephen A. Smith finally apologizes to Kyrie Irving after berating him for years due to off-court issues

Kyrie Irving has brought the spotlight back on him this season. For the right reasons that is. After being a part of media fodder for years for the wrong reasons. One of the main proponents of that media attack was Stephen A. Smith, who for years berated the superstar for the multitude of issues he created off the court.

But after all these years, thanks to Kenny Smith, Stephen A. Smith has finally turned the situation around. He spoke on his show, The Stephen A. Smith Show about the entire situation.

I'm not one that usually gives a s**t what anybody things. I stand on what I stand on. I feel the way I feel. Because I pride myself on being man enough to acknowledge when I'm wrong if I think I'm wrong. But I was wrong. And for Kenny Smith to tell me that, it hit home in a big way, because we go back more than 30 years. Jay Williams was right. But when you reflect sometimes and you see things for what they are, you gotta man up and accept it.
Stephen A. Smith said

Smith acknowledged that he was wrong on his part to push the narrative beyond a certain level. Even though Kyrie Irving was wrong in some ways, Smith’s pursuit of that narrative put Irving into a corner.

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Stephen A. Smith revealed that Kenny Smith‘s advice had forced him to think about his words. The 2-time champion advised the ESPN analyst that probably he pushed the narrative too far, which has pushed Irving from doing what he loves to do most, and that is play basketball.

Irving’s tumultuous time with the New York media paved the way to move to the Dallas Mavericks. All that is reaping the rewards now as the Mavericks are one game win away from clinching an NBA Finals berth.

Kyrie Irving finally leading a team to the top

The reason Kyrie Irving left LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers was that he felt he was a big enough leader like James to lead his own team. That led him to the Boston Celtics where he was supposed to lead a young group of draft picks to the promised land. However, he quickly realized that he could not imprint himself as the leader of that team and decided to create his own in his hometown.

With the Brooklyn Nets, he was the de facto leader. But, off-field issues took center stage and basketball was in the background. Despite having Kevin Durant and James Harden with him, he failed to produce results on the court. But now with the Dallas Mavericks, he has eventually become the leader he wanted to become for so long.

So much so that his team, and especially superstar and MVP frontrunner Luka Doncic, look up to him to lead them. His leadership has resulted in probably one of the best second-half runs in the NBA. Kyrie Irving has achieved redemption.

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