Stephen A. Smith Roasted For Using Kobe Bryant To Diss Other Players

Stephen A. Smith is well-known for his eccentric roasts but is he taking his criticisms too far? On Kobe’s death anniversary, athletes and celebs from all over the world are paying him respects on social media. However, many fans are offended by Stephen A’s Kobe Bryant segment.

January 26th is the two-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s death. To mark the occasion, many decided to pay tribute to the Black Mamba with text posts and even video essays about what kind of player he was. On First Take, Stephen A. Smith opted to count down the Lakers superstar’s five greatest moments on the court.

While Stephen A Smith clearly had good intentions but parts of his remembrance were not well received. He delivered a segment about the Mamba Mentality. It took shots at players like Kyrie Irving and Kawhi Leonard.

“Players missing games for reasons that have nothing to do with injury, that was not Kobe Bryant,” he said. “Players collecting paychecks without regard to regular season participation, that was not Kobe Bryant. Players prioritizing any and everything but championships, that was not Kobe Bryant.” Both Kyrie and Kawhi have had controversial seasons because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Twitter got furious collectively over SAS’s remarks. Fans referred to Stephen A’s dig as shameless agenda pushing.  The consensus was that it is possible to uplift a player like Kobe, without resorting to insulting today’s generation of NBA youth. After all, many of these players were Kobe disciples.

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