Stephen A Smith is one of the most unapologetic broadcasters out there. That's just who he is. In fact, this is one of the reasons why he's emerged as one of the most prominent sports analysts on TV today. Unsurprisingly, the ESPN broadcaster had quite a few things to say about the hot topic involving Los Angeles Lakers superstar Russell Westbrook and the death wishes he has been receiving. As always, Stephen A did not relent.

Smith is the type that calls a spade a spade. As such, he's been very critical of Westbrook and his poor play for the Lakers throughout the season. Much like the rest of us, it was only recently when Stephen A. learned about the death threats Westbrook has been receiving from fans, as revealed by his wife, Nina Westbrook. Naturally, Smith went on an all-out tirade condemning these inexcusable acts. Stephen A came to the defense of Westbrook and his family as he explained why no one should be subjected to this type of abuse under any circumstances:

“My heart goes out to Mrs. Westbrook and their children. I want to say that,” Smith started. “There's no excuse for this. There are some despicable reprehensible people in this world who will use every excuse under the sun to spew venom and beyond. Death wishes to a wife and a family — first of all, that's inexcusable under any circumstances but particularly when you consider the times we're living in. The fact that anybody would do something like that to his family it's terrorizing and it's inexcusable. And nobody on the planet should condone in any way that kind of behavior towards anybody. That's number one.”

Clearly, Smith is chastising these reprehensible people who are behind these death threats. As a matter of fact, Smith said that we should try and identify these people and have them arrested.

Be that as it may, Stephen A. went on to belabor his earlier criticism of Westbrook. After condemning the unwarranted threats to him and his family, Smith doubled down on why he firmly believes Westbrook deserves to be criticized because of his basketball:

“Having said all of that, Russell Westbrook himself — and I'm speaking to the man that is the star basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers — with all duerespect my brother, you do not get a pass here,” Smith said. “I'm gonna say that loud and clear. … You being heckled as a basketball player is not beyond the pale. It's not beyond the scope. Fans do have the right to boo you. I've never called you ‘Westbrick' but the bottom line is you know what ‘Westbrick' means. It means that you can't shoot. … You are statistically speaking the worst three-point shooter in basketball. Let's understand that. That's who you are.

“… What's inescapable and what's undeniable is that as inexcusable as the behavior of some fans may be towards you, and while your family clearly doesn't deserve any of it, and neither do you as it pertains to threats, the heckling part is what I'm talking about. My brother you brought that on yourself.”

Another staunch critic of Westbrook happens to be Magic Johnson, who Smith himself also mentioned in passing during his passionate rant. For his part, however, Magic appears to have eased up on his criticism of Russ. After stating a few days ago that the Westbrook deal could possibly go down as the worst trade in Lakers franchise history, Johnson came out with a tweet on Tuesday saying how Westbrook “plays an important role on the Lakers team and will be a key component to the success of the rest of the season and the NBA Playoffs.” Johnson also stated that we should all “do better, rally around the Westbrook family, and support them.”

Smith, on the other hand, is taking a different approach here. He's not ready to ease up on his criticism of Westbrook, but only in the basketball sense. Again, Stephen A. completely abhors the death threats, but he's still going to call it as it is. Russ is in the midst of arguably the worst season of his Hall of Fame career and there's no denying that he's one of the main reasons behind LA's poor overall performance this season. Smith, as always, isn't afraid to state the facts as he sees them.

The good news for Westbrook is that the season is not over yet. Theoretically speaking, he can still turn things around for himself and his team. The big question now is does he still have enough time to pull off a rather miraculous turnaround?