Stephen A. Smith publicly APOLOGIZES to Kyrie Irving after calling him "selfish" for refusing the COVID jab. "Hindsight-wise, it didn’t make him stubborn or selfish. It made him BRAVE." "I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday, and the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving." “Kyrie Irving stood out in my mind because of the heat that he was taking... He refused the vaccine. New York City's mandate made him ineligible for home games, and he linked his stance to people losing jobs over vaccine mandates." “In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didn't make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave. His willingness to stand up and say, ‘Nah, I'm not doing that.’ “It's just a time for reflection — to look at things differently.” Kyrie gave up $11,400,000 in game checks during the 21-22 NBA season and a $100,000,000 extension with the Nets to be unvaccinated. That cements his holdout as the largest financial sacrifice any athlete has ever made over an issue in history.