Recently, Smith has been critical of mercurial Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who said prior to the start of the NBA playoffs that there are more significant things to focus on than basketball.

“A lot of stuff is going on in this world and basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now, there’s a lot of stuff going on overseas…there’s a lot of dehumanization going on,” Irving said in reference to the Palestine-Israel conflict, according to Mediaite.

Kyrie Irving comments on recent events around the world:

“It’s sad to see this s— going on… it’s all over the world, and I feel it… my goal and my purpose is to help humanity, and I can’t sit here and not address that.” pic.twitter.com/dDrpmZPP7F

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) May 15, 2021

“My goal and my purpose is to help humanity, and I can’t sit here and not address that,” Irving said at a press conference last month.

Smith countered that Irving shouldn’t take focus away from his responsibilities as a pro basketball player, where he earns more than $33 million a year, per Basketball-Reference.com. 

The ESPN journalist suggested that Irving’s comments insinuates that other people aren’t as concerned about social justice, which Smith stated simply isn’t true.

“How much would you be focused on these issues if you had to worry about paying your bills, feeding your family, surviving?” Smith asked of the seven-time NBA All-Star. “We don’t want to see people dying. We don’t want to see people struggling. We don’t want to see people starving. Of course, particularly if you’re Black. You have been ravaged by racism and prejudice and bigotry and being marginalized and minimized.”

When it comes to effectively voicing their concern to drum up support and awareness, the Stephen A’s World host said the tennis star is going about it the right way.

“She didn’t just snub her nose at the media,” Smith said. “She explained why. It makes perfect sense, it showed incredible courage and thoughtfulness on her part. And what I would encourage everybody to do is when somebody tells you something like that, you listen to them.”