The NBA season is officially over and, with the Oklahoma City Thunder winning its first championship, the league is on the cusp of a new era. Aside from the sports organization itself, there's been talk of how the media landscape around it is evolving. On Sunday, NBA Countdown co-host Malika Andrews' sign-off made it sound as though the program might be over. That eventually led to all sorts of comments on social media regarding Stephen A. Smith.
Malika Andrews' messaging was a bit confusing, considering it seemed NBA Countdown and Inside The NBA would co-exist after it was acquired by ESPN. For those that didn't stick around for the very end of Game 7 of the NBA finals, here's what she said (via @AwfulAnnouncing):
I want to thank our entire production team, whose talent and tireless work on this show made everything possible. Thank you to Kendrick Perkins, Bob Myers, and Stephen A. Smith, and with gratitude and admiration, we want to welcome Inside The NBA next season. It has been an honor to be on this stage.
It was previously reported that Inside The NBA and its team would be a key part of ESPN's basketball coverage. However, Andrews' comments make it sound like the TNT-acquired program will be taking over the pre and postgame coverage of major games on the network. While the internet didn't initially have a problem with this, others started to jump out ahead of the network and make it clear that they didn't want to see Stephen A. Smith appearing alongside Charles Barkley or Shaq next season:
- Please keep Stephen A off the television 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 - @BillMuellerMMA
- Now for the love of god, keep Stephen A and Perkins away from them - @disc_vinyl
- Screamin’ A is totally unwatchable. I literally had to mute my TV in pregame til Richard Jefferson came on. - @BAGF_E
- Poor Malika Andrews and Bob Myers. They deserve better. This NBA countdown show is unwatchable. Shaq, Ernie, Kenny and Charles can’t start soon enough. - @CoachWilkes3
- NBA Countdown is so, so bad. - @dylanrettinger
The general consensus is that people don't want to see Stephen A. Smith or Kendrick Perkins and, as someone who watches both NBA Countdown and Inside The NBA, I understand. While both shows tend to skew more toward prioritizing entertainment over actual basketball analysis, Countdown leans more into narratives and hot takes while Inside is more comedic.
Trying to blend the two doesn't feel like a great idea, especially given that big sports pundit Stephen A. Smith isn't typically known for his comedic side. In fact, he's most known for his high-profile feuds with athletes, most recently his back-and-forth with LeBron James.
James appeared on The Pat McAfee Show to call out Stephen A. Smith after the two had an on-court confrontation following a game weeks before. The feud escalated to the point that NBA commissioner Adam Silver had to comment on it, noting it wasn't something he wished to see happen.
Beyond fans worrying that Stephen A. Smith or other ESPN names will be added to the Inside The NBA crew, there are others who doubt the network will successfully recapture the magic that made the series great on TNT. Sports journalist Bill Simmons mentioned that ESPN's way of airing Countdown would be disastrous for Inside. More specifically, Simmons opined that the structure wouldn't allow for the long segments that create all the iconic moments amongst Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and co.
We'll just have to wait until this fall to see how ESPN runs Inside The NBA, and to see if this truly is the end of NBA Countdown. For now, all eyes are on the upcoming NBA Draft, as teams look to better their chances of winning in the Finals this time next year or beyond.
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