Stephen A. Smith put his chips on the table for Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and the Brooklyn Nets. While he doubled down on his prediction that the Golden State Warriors would likely repeat as NBA champions, he put his stake on the Nets as the team coming out of the East.

While there's a reality wherein everything falls into place for Brooklyn and they do end up as a Finals team, Stephen A. dropped an even more eye-opening prediction on the Nets – Kyrie Irving, MVP candidate.

“I think Kyrie's going to be a leading candidate for MVP honors this year. I think Kyrie's going to put on a show. Cause I'm moving forward, I'm not talking about the past. … I'm gonna look at Kyrie Irving in this window, and I'm saying this year, Kyrie's going to be a leading candidate for MVP.”

Considering the fact that Kyrie Irving has never even received a single MVP vote even in his best years, it's probably not far-fetched to say that that Stephen A. Smith's take is scorching hot, even for his standards.

Kyrie Irving hasn't even played more than 67 games since the 2016-17 season when he was still with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He's played a grand total of 103 games in the last three seasons. That in of itself is a huge hurdle to overcome when it comes to the MVP award.

Add to that the fact that Kevin Durant is heads and shoulders better as a player also on his team and Irving's supremely gifted yet relatively limited skill set compared to past winners such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic and it's hard to imagine Kyrie even sniffs the award from a mile away.

But that's Stephen A. Smith, for you.