With Inside The NBA heading to ESPN next year (although plenty of questions remain around the details of that), there’s been a lot of talk around how it may or may not interface with existing ESPN content and personalities. One big question there is about ESPN star Stephen A. Smith. But it looks like he’ll be interacting with the NBA on TNT personalities in a notable way even before Inside The NBA moves to ESPN.
Oddly enough, Smith is going to be participating in a free-throw contest on TNT’s Emirates NBA Cup semifinal pregame show Saturday in Las Vegas, which starts at 3:30 p.m. ET ahead of a 4:30 p.m. ET tipoff time. There, he’ll be taking on a to-be-determined member of the Inside The NBA cast. Here’s how that show discussed this Tuesday (including with Kenny Smith saying he threw this challenge out there and with Shaquille O’Neal proposing an alternative of a four-on-four game against ESPN personalities, which the others oppose based on how they’d likely get injured):
An ‘Inside the NBA’ vs Stephen A. Smith free-throw challenge is apparently on the way Saturday in Las Vegas on TNT. 🏀📺🎙️pic.twitter.com/YKnRt5dae3
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 11, 2024
And here’s how Smith weighed in on who he should face:
This ain’t a first pitch fellas. I’ll give @TheJetOnTNT a chance in a FT contest — Queens (NY) in the building. I’m beating Chuck. @SHAQ? Why are you even talking? NO CHANCE. @TurnerSportsEJ: I humbly stand down to you, sir. See y’all this Saturday. Love y’all😀 https://t.co/SlKVWTfCIb
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) December 11, 2024
Indeed, both Shaq and Charles Barkley were not known for good free-throw shooting during their playing careers, averaging 52.7 percent and 73.5 percent shooting from the line respectively. And O’Neal’s shooting there was so bad it led to a whole “Hack-A-Shaq” strategy.
Meanwhile, Kenny Smith averaged 82.9 percent on free throws for his career. It’s unclear just how good the free throw games of Smith (who was set to play at Winston-Salem State before suffering a career-ending injury) or “Elevator Ernie” Johnson are, though.
At any rate, this should be entertaining to watch regardless of which TNT personality Stephen A. takes on. And it’s notable to see Smith doing something with the NBA on TNT crew on that network, long before they start doing shows on ESPN. He’s said that move “doesn’t affect me at all,” but it’s certainly interesting to see him doing an on-camera thing with these guys in the lead-up to that.
[Awful Announcing on X]
