During Monday's [May 22] episode of ESPN's First Take, Stephen A. Smith scorched Kevin Durant over his recommendation that fans simply "don't watch" if they don't feel like the 2017 NBA Playoffs have met their expectations. In sweeping the San Antonio Spurs with a 129-115 Game 4 thrashing, Golden State improved their postseason record to a perfect 12-0, and will likely face a Cleveland Cavs team that just lost their first game since the regular season. The dominance displayed by the rival superteams have many griping about the disparity in talent and whether it is making for a competitive sport these days.
Durant would apologize for his remarks, prior to closing the Spurs out of the Western Conference Finals, stating, "I mean, life can be simple, man. If you don't like the way the game is going, just turn it off. If you're enjoying it, just keep it on. Life is simple. I didn't mean it to disrespect anybody, but if you felt disrespected, I'm sorry. But if you don't enjoy the game, turn it off [and] turn something else on. If you do, enjoy the rest of it, man." But the warriors star, who has thus far averaged 25.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists throughout the playoffs, wouldn't get around to clearing his position up before Smith chewed him out earlier in the day.
"He's aged. And along the process of aging, he's gotten more arrogant, he's gotten more disrespectful, he's gotten more dismissive particularly of the fans," Smith said during the telecast. "To be quite honest with you, he hasn't gotten smarter. And the reason why he hasn't gotten smarter is because the younger Durant never would have said something so flagrantly disrespectful towards fans."
Source: bleacherreport.com
