Stephen A Smith Credit: TNT Sports
By Sean Keeley on

Kenny and Shaq may never live this one down.

On Saturday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith joined the Inside the NBA crew in Las Vegas ahead of the NBA Cup semifinals to take on Kenny Smith in a free-throw shooting contest.

During the week, ESPN’s Smith had challenged TNT’s Smith to a shooting contest. The Jet accepted and said he would shoot left-handed to make it fair.

Unfortunately for the former NBA star, it was Stephen A. who came away victorious. While Kenny only made one out of five left-handed free throws, SAS knocked down three of five to secure the victory.

Immediately afterward, ESPN’s Smith then challenged Shaquille O’Neal in a $20,000 three-point contest. Shaq went first and promptly airballed his shot. Smith followed that up with an airball of his own. Shaq’s second shot made for the third airball in a row before Smith broke the streak, bricking his shot off the backboard. On his third shot, Shaq airballed yet again, prompting Kenny Smith to say he’d give $10,000 to your charity if you hit the rim!”

Stephen A. then shot another airball. Shaq broke his airball streak when his next shot glanced off the front of the hoop.

Eventually, Smith defeated his second Inside the NBA analyst by sinking a three-pointer, putting everyone out of their misery.

There’s perhaps a metaphor at work in all of this. Given that Inside the NBA will become an ESPN show next year, it stands to reason that Stephen A. will be making more appearances with this crew. And while everyone will get to “take their own shots,” one has to wonder if SAS won’t end up steamrolling everyone eventually, as he tends to do on his own shows.

Meanwhile, Kenny and Shaq are already getting grief from his TNT cohorts. During the introduction to the NBA 2K25 DataCast, host Adam Lefkoe took a brutal shot at the NBA analysts. 

“Welcome in to Studio D in Atlanta where we’re getting ready for the NBA 2K25 DataCast and for people that would never lose to Stephen A. Smith in a shooting contest,” said Lefkoe. 

[NBA on TNT]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Sean Keeley