There’s no bigger personality in sports media these days than ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. In fact, Smith has an argument as the biggest personality in all of media. However, many fans have grown sick of the constant coverage of and from Smith, especially as he begins to dabble more and more in politics.
Those fans were not the most pleased earlier this year, when the Worldwide Leader in Sports signed the boisterous personality to a $105 million deal. These fans have especially found Smith’s NBA coverage annoying, as at times he seems to believe he is a bigger star than the players on the court, or is responsible for them being stars in the first place.
However, the tide finally seems to be turning in these fans’ favor, as the network has officially announced the removal of Smith from the NBA Countdown cast after over 20 years as a part of the show, per Awful Announcing.
Stephen A. Smith officially no longer a part of ‘NBA Countdown’ https://t.co/sVklVntyO0 pic.twitter.com/KbAo3Qyt3H
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 18, 2025
Fans reacted to this news on social media.
“Let me know when he is no longer part of ‘ESPN’ completely. Complete no-talent clown….not enough bad things can happen to this (jerk),” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Makes NBA Countdown infinitely more watchable,” someone else added.
“I make actually watch now!” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see if ESPN begins to decrease Smith’s facetime elsewhere as well.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.