We have known for some time that popular ESPN commenter Stephen A Smith is not exactly a supporter of Kawhi Leonard. We have seen Smith make numerous statements about the LA Clippers and their best player over the years, with most of them revolving around one particular topic: injuries.
Stephen A has shown himself to be a frequent critic of players who are often injured - an interesting angle considering players do not choose whether they suffer an injury or not. Leonard is not even the only player in Los Angeles to get this treatment from Smith, as Anthony Davis has been criticized by the pundit for his injury history on many occasions.
In Stephen A's eyes, players who are injury prone and miss extensive time on the court should be looked at a bit harder than others. ESPN's top on-air personality was recently discussing Joel Embiid and his impact for Team USA at the Olympics, which gave him the perfect opportunity to make a statement on Leonard and his ever-popular injury issues.
Stephen A: Kawhi 'invents' ways to get hurt
In discussing Embiid, Smith acknowledged he was surprised that the 76ers' big man traveled to Paris healthy, while comparing his availability to that of Kawhi's. "Nobody misses more games than Kawhi Leonard," said Stephen A. " invents ways to get hurt."
This is simply a ridiculous statement by Smith, and it is certain to light a fire under the Clippers fanbase. At the same time, it is not all that surprising, considering this is far from the first time Stephen A has made a remark toward Kawhi that has come off as a borderline personal attack.
Everyone in Los Angeles remembers back in April 2023 when Smith had the audacity to go on live television and state that the Clippers "should force Kawhi Leonard to retire." It was an unprecedented bad take, even for someone who makes a living out of putting out controversial sound bites.
It is certainly respectable that Kawhi has managed to avoid punching back on these extremely pointed verbal attacks thrown at him by the likes of Stephen A. If there is some sort of hidden issue ESPN's top personality has with Leonard, it would sure be best for all of us if they resolved it soon to save us from more of these types of comments in the future.