Kevin Durant's Mom Defends Her Son Against ESPN's Stephen A. Smith

Wanda Durant, the mother of Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant, appeared on ESPN's First Take on Sunday and criticized panelist Stephen A. Smith for calling her son "arrogant."

"I thought [what he said] was quite harsh," Wanda Durant commented (h/t Steven Ruiz of For the Win). "It's like, 'who are you, Stephen A., to come at my boy like that?' When he came to ESPN? Was that a weak move for him? He joined some more heavy hitters, right? To up his career, right? To do what was best for him. That's what he did, right? No one called him weak for that. So why call me son weak for doing the same thing he did?" 

Smith, who was not on the program following the death of his own mother, was critical of Kevin Durant's interaction with fans last month. 

"He's aged. And along the process of aging, he's gotten more arrogant, he's gotten more disrespectful, he's gotten more dismissive—particularly of the fans," Smith said. "To be quite honest with you, he hasn't gotten smarter. And the reason why he hasn't gotten smarter is because the younger Durant never would have said something so flagrantly disrespectful towards fans."

Smith was responding to Durant telling fans "if you don't like it, don't watch it" in regard to the Warriors' blowout postseason run. At the time, the Warriors had won their first 11 postseason games, all but two by double digits. That streak has been stretched to 14 consecutive following Sunday's 132-113 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Golden State has already broke the record for the longest winning streak in a single postseason and is on its way to shattering the all-time win differential mark. The Warriors have won the first two games of the Finals by 41 points, a flagrant destruction of the defending NBA champions.

Wanda Durant, in her comments, also sent her condolences to Smith for the loss of his mother. Janet Smith died last Thursday following a battle with cancer.