Kenny Smith called Stephen A. Smith over Kyrie Irving criticism

Kenny Smith said he called Stephen A. Smith regarding his criticism of Kyrie Irving when the “First Take” host had beef with the Mavericks star during the 2022 season.

During TNT’s pregame show Tuesday ahead of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals between the Mavericks and the Timberwolves, Kenny explained how he got Stephen A. to “fall back” in his previous battle with Irving.

“There’s been a constant change in the thought process about [Irving] by the mass media. As a basketball player, we’re not talking about his political and social stances and looking at him in a negative view,” Kenny said while discussing Irving’s growth.

“I’ll say it; I wasn’t going to say it. I’ve never said it to Kyrie, but I’ve said it to Stephen A. — because at one time Stephen A. was an advocate about having a battle with this guy — and I had to call Stephen, I’m like, ‘this guy is from our neighborhood.’

“I named like six people, and I said, ‘Stephen, those people mentored you mentored him, so when you say something about him you’re actually saying it about us.’ So he understand and they kind of fell back.

“As a media person, we have to understand that young men go through young things. They grow up, they appreciate things and they have a different view point then we might have had.”

On “First Take” on Wednesday morning, Stephen A. confirmed the conversation and that he was in the wrong.

“He was 1,000-percent correct… Kenny Smith and I go back decades,” Stephen A. said, noting that Kenny’s brother, Vincent, trained him at Lost Batallion Hall in Queens when he was in junior high.

Charles Barkley agreed that Irving has shown significant growth, but explained that the NBA champ deserved an eight-game suspension by this former team, the Nets, in November 2022 — when he sat out without pay after he shared a social media post about a book and movie that feature antisemitic tropes.

At the time, Irving issued an apology, but the Nets said he was “unfit to be associated” with the team because of his failure to clarify and disavow antisemitism when give then opportunity during a post-game media session.

“Yeah, all that stuff is good. He self-inflicted himself, he’s got to take some responsibility,” Barkley said Tuesday. “I think he’s grown up. I think he’s matured. Stephen A. and other people criticized him and he deserved it. You can’t go out there being antisemitic. You can do the vaccination thing, that’s your own thing. But he deserved the criticism he got. He deserved the suspension he got.

“But as a basketball player, I think he’s really grown up…. We’ve all made mistakes. I’ve done plenty of stupid things, but at some point you need to grow up, and I think he’s grown up.”

Irving issued another apology when he returned to the Nets after his eight-game suspension.

“I don’t stand for anything close to hate speech, or antisemitism, or anything that is anti going against the human race,” Irving said at the time. “I feel like we all should have an opportunity to speak for ourselves when things are assumed about us. And I feel it was necessary for me to stand in this place and take accountability for my actions because there was a way I should have handled all of this.”

Stephen A. was heavily critical of Irving on “First Take” for a number of reasons throughout the All-Star’s dramatic tenure with the Nets, including his vaccine situation.

Prior to that, Stephen A. came down on Irving for “not showing up to work” in the 2021-22 season when he played just 29 games due to various absences.

During an appearance on “The Mike Missanelli Podcast” last March, Stephen A said he had “personal” differences with Irving and his father, Drederick — but cautioned that their issues do not interfere with his analysis of the Mavericks guard.

“Now Kyrie and I have our differences on a personal level, which is none of anybody’s business and I’ll never tell why,” Smith said at the time. “He knows why. And his daddy knows why.

“They know how I feel about how they’ve acted towards me and they know how I feel about them and I know how they feel about me.”