There aren't too many people who are backing Kyrie Irving right now with regards to the Brooklyn Nets superstar's refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Well, NBA legend Stephon Marbury is one of them, and the former All-Star point guard decided to go on an all-out attack on ESPN's Stephen A. Smith over the broadcaster's incessant criticism of Kyrie.
Marbury did not only send a ton of praise towards Irving's direction, but in the process, he also decided to attack Smith on a personal level:
“It's sad to hear Stephen A. Smith talk about Kyrie Irving the way how he's talking about him. Calling him selfish — this man has done so much stuff. for human beings and giving back and trying to help so many different people of all different cultures,” Marbury said in a now-viral tirade (h/t Nico Martinez of Fadeaway World).
“This is what happens when you have people like this guy, who's animated, not realistic about what it is that he speaks and talks about. He played a little bit of basketball, but come on, seriously? You letting this guy talk to you about sports? This guy never got hit in a football game, he never swung a bat, and this is the person who they have speaking and talking about what's going on in sports? Man, you need to defund his voice.”
Unsurprisingly, Smith fired back with his own brand of savagery against Marbury:
“I'm not going to go off on Stephon Marbury. But I will say that Stephon Marbury has had a problem with me since 2009 because we thought he was a bit bizarre when he was eating vaseline. Literally on video, like it was a bunch of cheeseburgers. Like gobbling vaseline, crying, later admitted he was depressed.
Stephon Marbury was somebody that was considered an incredible, tremendous talent, but who had leadership issues. And so it seems more than apropos that he would come to the support of Kyrie Irving…”
While Smith started out his statement by saying that he wouldn't “go off” on Marbury, there's no denying that he absolutely ripped him apart in his rant here. This is honestly the first time I've heard about Marbury's Vaseline-eating incident, and the fact that Smith brought this up is a clear sign that things have gotten personal between these two.
At the end of the day, you have to remember that this is all about Kyrie Irving. Such is the power of the Nets superstar that he is able to cause this much division over his decision not to get vaccinated.
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