Last week, Stephen A Smith went on a series of wild rants against Knicks president Phil Jackson after reports revealed that the team was thinking about trading franchise star Kristaps Porzingis. In one of those rants, Stephen A mocked Jackson for signing Lmar Odom to the Knicks when “he was on crack”.
Odom took to Twitter to fire back at the ESPN blowhard by posting a letter written by his lawyer with the caption #slander. In the letter, Odom’s lawyer hopes the people over at ESPN will “voice their disdain” for his “vulgar” and “grotesque” comments about Odom’s past addiction problems.
https://twitter.com/RealLamarOdom/status/878380173975887873?
“Mr. Smith chose to jokingly disparage Lamar having a disease,” the letter wrote. “To say that his conduct was outrageous and unacceptable does not scratch the surface.
“We hope those at ESPN will actively voice their disdain for Mr. Smith’s inappropriate statement and take the proper action to support those that are fighting this disease. We would hope that your network would use this situation as an opportunity to become more actively involved in this case.”
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Stephen A. later tried to clarify his comments about Odom.
Via Deadspin
Because of my personal affection for Lamar Odom — and only for that reason — I want to return to my comments about something I’ve repeated quite often over the last few days: the flagrant ineptitude that I feel has been on continual display by Knick’s President Phil Jackson.
My comments were NOT to put any more focus on Lamar Odom’s much publicized drug use and addiction. He was not the target of my ire.
The sole focus of my comments were directed at the unmitigated disaster that Phil Jackson has created since he’s arrived in New York. It my opinion, he simply couldn’t leave soon enough.
Lamar Odom is simply one of the nicest athletes any of us have encountered, and has always been a gentlemen to everyone in NBA circles — including me — which is something I’ve repeated throughout the years.
That’s why it’s worth repeating: Lamar Odom was not the focus of my ire. My comments were entirely, totally, meant for Phil Jackson. Anyone who loves the NY Knicks, who’ve witnessed what has been transpiring over the last three years, know exactly who I was directing my comments to.