Stephen A. Smith apparently has an idea that he wants to see come to fruition over at the Worldwide Leader. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, Smith wants to team up with former ESPN analyst Magic Johnson and, potentially, longtime network personality Michael Wilbon on broadcasts that lead into some of its biggest NBA games, including the Finals.
Smith wants to team up with Johnson, possibly on “NBA Countdown,” the pregame show that leads into the NBA Finals and other marquee games, according to sources.
Smith’s ideal setup would be to have a Big 3 that also includes “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Michael Wilbon, who often works alongside Smith on “SportsCenter.”
The network’s basketball programming has been in a state of flux in recent months. While NBA Countdown has never received the publicity that its TNT counterpart, Inside the NBA, receives as a pregame show, the group of Maria Taylor, Jalen Rose, Jay Williams, and Adrian Wojnarowski settled into a groove dating back to last year. But following Taylor’s departure to NBC at the end of the NBA Finals, there’s no word on how ESPN plans to move forward.
Marchand did note that while there has been some hesitancy in the past to have the ubiquitous Smith in this spot because “the league feels his style is too opinionated and not the right tone to lead into its main event,” he tends to get what he wants now that he is ESPN’s most prominent personality. The question that still exists, though, is how this sort of thing would work — Marchand mentioned that possibilities exist like Johnson appearing as one of the folks who replaces Max Kellerman on First Take and the trio coming together for Smith’s already-established midweek SportsCenter in the lead-up to NBA games on Wednesdays.
