Despite Stephen A. Smith’s Apology to Kawhi Leonard, Ex-NBA Star Seemingly Backs ESPN Analyst’s “Worst Superstar” Claim

“This is the worst superstar,” Stephen A. Smith had said about Kawhi Leonard on ESPN’s First Take a month ago. Then, in a separate instance, Smith mocked Leonard in front of his teammate Paul George with his sarcastic remark — “Nobody on the planet knows what it’s like to play without a star than Paul George.” But it was PG who faced backlash from the fans for not taking a stand for his teammate. However, Smith later apologized for his remarks and for putting George on the spot. Now, former NBA guard Sebastian Telfair gave his two cents on Smith’s remark.

Appearing on an episode of VLAD TV, Telfair tried explaining that Kawhi was just trying to free-style this thing. “To be a superstar, you gotta wanna be a superstar… And do you think Kawhi wants to be a superstar?” Telfair posed a question of his own. Further, during the interview, DJ Vlad stated a common humorous take on the 6x All-Star that Leonard probably comes home after work and sits down quietly, eating dinner with his family, and they don’t even know he plays basketball.

“He’s a super humble dude,” Telfair added on VladTV. Even coach Gregg Popovich praised the 2x NBA champ for his humility, as per SI.com’s Lee Jenkins. “When Kawhi makes a mistake, he’s almost apologetic. He doesn’t want to disappoint anybody. There are times he does something well, and I have to tell him, ‘That was super. That was fantastic. That was a helluva job. You can smile now. You can feel great about yourself,'” Popovich had stated.

As for Telfair’s comments, he may have meant good. But seemingly, his statements conform to the idea of The Klaw not being a good superstar. Notably, one aspect of Smith’s comments against Leonard was that he does not indulge much in public interviews. And this can be viewed as a lack of effort on his end in promotion or marketing of the league.

The other aspect of Stephen A Smith’s comments against Kawhi Leonard

One aspect could be his absence from public interviews and complete social media absence, for that matter. In fact, Smith stated, the reason Leonard is being termed as a superstar is solely because of his on-court contributions to the game.

This includes his 2 championships, and 2 NBA Finals MVP. “The brother is a big-time basketball player,” Smith said. However, the amount of games The Klaw misses is yet another issue with his superstar stature. During his take in May this year, Smith pointed out that during Leonard’s first four years with the Clippers, he averaged 40.3 games every year, which is less than half of the full season.

“He played 68 games this past year and then again he wasn’t available to play,” the ESPN analyst added. And it was after this that Smith pointed out Leonard’s other flaw — lack of effort in promoting the game and engaging with fans, which Telfair in a way recently backed.

Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.