Stephen A. Smith did not hold back while discussing the “trouble” he witnessed as a beat writer earlier in his career, including “people screwing around in the office.”
Smith, who worked as a NBA beat reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer before he became ESPN’s top personality, appeared on the Barstool Sports podcast, “Bussin’ With The Boys” with former NFL linemen Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, and claimed he had NSFW knowledge about players, coaches and executives, which impacted trades and business decisions.
“From day one, I always let them know don’t look for any pity from me when it comes to your game. Because everyone’s watching,” Smith said while discussing how he balanced his relationships with his takes as a beat writer. “f we’re sitting there and I’m talking to y’all right now, and we’re having a private conversation … I can shut up about it and go on my merry way and it’s between us.
“But with these cameras rolling and the world watching, I can’t help you. What you say is what you say. What you own is what you own … I’m a street-wise brother, I kind of know.
“I’m a beat writer at the time, so you get to know everybody … you don’t just know the athletes … you know their families, their friends … all of that stuff. So just imagine you’re covering sports and you’re dealing with 20-year-olds, late 20s and early 30s and imagine the stuff that you’re making all this money and you find yourself getting into because you’re living a life you that most people don’t get to live.
“Think about the trouble that brings. You think I didn’t know that you got traded because you were f–king the same girl as the coach — and the coach wanted you gone. You think I didn’t know the coach couldn’t stand you because you tried to come onto his wife and his wife was interested?
“Do you think that I don’t know that you really really can’t stand this dude because guess what, you wouldn’t trade with this team because this former executive used to screw around with your wife and you didn’t want anybody to know.”
Smith did not name anyone specifically or elaborate further.
The “First Take” personality went on to use Houston Rockets head coach, Ime Udoka, as an example, and recalled him being “pushed out” of the Celtics’ organization after it was discovered had an alleged affair with a female team staff member in September 2022.
“When Ime Udoka got pushed out because of a consensual relationship with somebody and you saw me going ballistic [on TV] because I was like, ‘Oh, that’s the first time this happened?
“I’ve been in this business for 30 years, there ain’t a year that went by that I don’t know about people screwing around in the office.
“It’s always happening, like always, but this guy is the one y’all are going to bust? Now that pissed me off.”
In September 2022, Udoka was suspended following a months-long investigation by an outside law firm, which found multiple violations of “team policies” — reportedly by having an improper relationship with a female team staff member.
The Celtics exposed the matter when they announced Udoka’s one-year suspension for the 2022-23 season as a result of the investigation.
Udoka was in a 13-year relationship with actress Nia Long at the time and was entering his second season as head coach after he led Boston to the NBA Finals in 2022, when the Celtics fell to the Warriors in six games.
Long and Udoka split shortly after the alleged affair became public and continue to co-parent their 12-year-old son Kez.
