NBA – Stephen A. Smith, the polemicist star who was worth 100 million dollars… and tied the White House

Better than a Netflix series. It is the media soap opera of the moment in American sport. James versus Smith. LeBron against Stephen A. It all started at the beginning of March, when the quadra star of the Lakers took advantage of the arrival of the Los Angeles franchise at Madison Square Garden to pass a good blower to the star journalist of ESPN, to whom he reproached certain comments on his son, Bronny.

Stephen A. Smith, a great figure of the American chain, never short of a controversy or a provocation, had advised LeBron to send his offspring to G-League, believing that he had nothing to do in the NBA for the moment: “Everyone knows that Bronny is in the NBA thanks to his father“He had concluded.”I will only tell you once: leave my son outside of all this shit, guy“The player had launched him in New York, on the edge of the field.”He was not a basketball player who was facing me. He was a parent, a father. I cannot be angry with LeBron James in this regard “, had reacted the one who embodies the Tak show First Take.

The case could have stopped there but in recent days, the two men have returned the cover. “”What did you want me to do? A Will Smith with Chris Rock?“, asked Smith about this altercation where he had remained without reaction. But he assured him: if LeBron had joined the gesture to the Word, he would have regretted it:”If he had raised my hand on me, I would have immediately darkened on him. Immediately. I can't tolerate this. But I knew he was not going to do this“.

Invited this week of the Pat McAfee Show, one of the most followed and commented in the country, “King James” preferred to laugh. He even made it an Instagram story to ironize. All this must amuse Stephen A. Smith. This serves it and confirms it in its role and even more in its status as a major character of American sport, treating as equals with any star, like LeBron James. The latter is not fooled: “He is on tour right now, like Taylor Swift“.

This episode, more fun than anything else, even bordering on the grotesque, is mainly worth for what it reveals from Stephen A. Smith's place today. It is a must. If James started in the quarter turn, it is because of the scope of the Tirades of the ESPN journalist. A lebron that gets angry and attacks him even in strict verbal plane, is enough to feed the Smith machine.

It is also for this kind of bankable controversy nationally that it has just obtained a new contract with ESPN up to … $ 100 million, over five years. A sacred increase compared to its previous five -year contract (8 million per year). Only two consultants, Tom Brady on Fox (37.5 million per year) and Charles Barkley on TNT (21 million) touch more than him.

At 57, Smith traced his furrow to the firmament of the media galaxy of US sport. New York Pure Jus, born in the Bronx before growing up in Queens, a youngest of a siblings of six children, he does not hide, today, his attachment to the Knicks and Yankees, the two legendary franchises from Big Apple in NBA and MLB. Only infidelity, the NFL, where he set his fan of fan on the Pittsburgh steelers. Paradoxically, it is in a journal of Philadelphia, the Inquirerthat he began to make a name for himself in the 90s as a follower of the Sixers. He even became friends with Allen Iverson, who respects this guy having the courage of his opinions.

The NBA is its favorite dada. If he boasts of not knowing anything about certain sports, such as ice hockey, Stephen A. Smith is never short of a clear opinion, especially on the things of US football, but basketball remains his favorite playground. His most famous show, First Takeis also devoted mainly to the NBA. He was also a playmaker at Winston Salem State, in NCAA II, from 1987 to 1991. Not really a genius. An enthusiast. A big mouth too, already.

On ESPN, he first won his stripes in radio shows, before being gradually exposed TV. His impeccable flow despite a machine gun, his New York gauge, his sense of formula, his appetite for the debate, his aggressiveness always controlled and often overlayed, all this quickly made a good customer, then a must. He regularly intervenes on Sports Center ou Pardon The Interruptionflagship channels of the chain today belonging to Disney, also quickly benefits its own programs, as Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith, Where his talent as an interviewer works wonders. Smith is never afraid to offend anyone, nor to make enemies, especially if they are powerful.

He always goes far. Often very far. Sometimes too much? Its first national shot dates from February 2008, when the Lakers hung the ex-numéro one from the Draft Kwame Brown in Memphis against Pau Gasol. Smith destroys the pivot: “Kwame Brown left. The city of angels, Hollywood, should be celebrated. Organize a parade. This man was a real failure. He doesn't know how to play. Without wanting to lack respect, I am sorry that they cannot tell everyone the truth. This man does not know how to play basketball“.

Lakers, a little in distress for three years, will play the NBA finals in 2008, 2009 and 2010 with two titles. With his “Bonafide Scrub” against Kwame Brown, which can indeed be translated as a real failure, Smith won his stripes. A few years ago, the journalist admitted to regret having been so hard on the form. However, this will become for good its trademark. His thing? Short format. In two minutes flat, that's where he excels the most.

He also received his share of criticism. Over the years, many have reproached him to work less. Until sometimes, huge nonsense. In December 2018, invited to give his opinion on the match between Kansas City and San Diego in NFL, Smith insists on defender Spencer Ware then targets the duel between Derrick Johnson and Hunter Henry, greeting the way in which the latter “played this season, how effective it has been“Except that the first is forfeited, the second had been seriously injured in a knee before the start of the season when the third was cut by Kansas City nine months earlier.

Stephen A. Smith could have been discredited by a fail as masterful as this one but it was ultimately nothing. ESPN goes by everything. When, in 2013, the running back Ray Rice is accused of having violently assaulted his wife, Smith is on the verge of implying that certain women have their responsibility because they sometimes cause the domestic violence of their companions, the chain suspends it … a week. It will not be his only outing deemed sexist.

After the Monumental Couac in December 2018, ESPN has also adapted. “”Smith's interventions are now built to be vague and practically empty of content, estimated Will Leitch in a very offensive article towards Smith in the New York Daily Magon February 26th. Their single goal is to generate a quote to remember. As on the 76ers the other day: 'This season is a joke!'. Then, we go to the following subject, then to the following quote. And the machine turns at full speed. Empty and at full speed.“

For some, Stephen A. Smith has become a simple caricature, of himself and a system that brews wind and makes noise. A sort of Donald Trump in ESPN sauce, not bothering the veracity of the facts or his words. The comparison is all the less fortuitous since it lends him political ambitions. Maybe even presidential. In 2009, he defined himself as independent. “”I am a proud capitalist“, he proclaims but on certain points, he feels closer to the Democratic Party than to the Republicans. In November 2024, guest of the program The Viewhe describes himself as “a tax curator and a social liberal“.

That same evening, he suggested for the first time that a presidential candidacy in 2028 could try it. “”I'm half kidding, but I'm serious, in a way, he had advanced. If you came to see me saying that I have a legitimate chance of becoming president of the United States of America, I would seriously consider the thing.”

SAS is sometimes difficult to follow politically. He timidly supported Kamala Harris against Donald Trump but says he is resolutely anti-Woke and exasperated by what he calls the Wokist obsession of Democrats. Some of his tirades almost confine the libertarian current but he has never hidden his admiration for Bernie Sanders. He often criticizes Trump, but puts all democratic personalities into pieces as soon as he can. Finally, a bit like in the NBA, he said everything, his opposite and the opposite of everything else. So what is he looking for?

Her new lucrative five -year contract with ESPN seems to confirm the withdrawal, at least momentary, of this desire, if however it was serious. One thing is certain, the political thing fascinates him. He also negotiated in his new blockbuster with ESPN the possibility of speaking political in his various programs and interventions. He wants to go beyond sport. While waiting to do politics, he wants to talk about it, as he wants to be able to invite singers or actors.

His real dream, even if he still loves what he does so much? “”I would like to make a kind of late-show, like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel“, He said about what he would like to develop on ESPN. So, will politics be confined for him to the big television circus? Perhaps. Or not. He smiles, without saying anything, when he is reminded that the current tenant of the White House was also at the heart of a famous TV show. But is it really the essential? ESPN, Washington or elsewhere, adored or mocked or mocke. James, he is still a winner as long as he is talking about him.