The NBA season is in full swing amid the 2025 TV schedule, which means coverage of the league has also returned. When it comes to ESPN, the network now has Inside the NBA amongst its ranks, thanks to the licensing deal it reached with TNT in 2024. NBA Countdown is still in the mix, too, and the show’s official host lineup for the season has been released. However, longtime host Stephen A. Smith wasn’t included in that listing, and outlets later reported he’d been dropped from the show. Now, Smith is setting the record straight.
ESPN confirmed back in October that NBA Countdown veterans Malika Andrews and Kendrick Perkins would be joined on the show by former Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone this year. Now, the network has revealed via a press release that senior basketball writer Brian Windhorst is joining the program following his multi-year contract extension. At the same time, insider Shams Charania – who joined the program in 2024 – will also return to provide regular news updates.
At the time that press release was shared, not only was Stephen A. Smith not mentioned, but there was also no official explanation for his omission. Subsequently, Smith saw the reports swirling around him and Countdown and addressed them on his eponymous radio show. During the episode (which is on YouTube), Smith explained the business reasons behind why he’ll no longer be featured regularly on the basketball-centric program:
I negotiated a new deal with ESPN, a new five-year deal. That deal was negotiated between June of 2024 and March into April of 2025. I didn’t want to be on the show. I negotiated coming off of it. I love doing NBA Countdown but, once the Countdown show is over, I got other things to do than to be in studio watching a doubleheader and coming on at halftimes. I got other stuff that I want to do to prepare for First Take the next day and to do an abundance of other things that I aspire to do.
Smith – who’s been contributing to the aforementioned sports network in various ways since 2003 – also pointed out that he’s still working with the company after signing his $100 million extension. With that, Smith highlighted his growing role on Monday Night Countdown, which covers the NFL. The First Take host also laid out his professional responsibilities to his sports radio show, political news-based series and growing production company.
During his spiel, Stephen A. Smith also praised the “fabulous” Malika Andrews, his “brother,” Kendrick Perkins and the “great” Mike Malone. Smith also shouted out the Inside the NBA crew, saying that like his NBA Countdown cohorts, they didn’t “need” his presence. However, Smith also previously said that he would appear on Inside if asked, and he just shared a similar sentiment about Countdown:
If they need me in LA for NBA Countdown, I’ll be there. Matter of fact, I have days in my contract to be there. I just don’t have to be there full time.
So it seems Stephen A. Smith will still join the show on occasion but just won’t appear regularly due to his other obligations. It goes without saying that Countdown (which was thought to be ending earlier this year) will look a bit different without him, though Smith’s comments suggest he’s completely at peace with how everything has shaken out. Not only that, but Smith appears to have confidence in his colleagues being able to carry the torch full time moving forward.
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