Stephen A. Smith Comments on Salary Difference Between Him and Pat McAfee

Also in Traina Thoughts: NBA Finals rating; Dumbest suspension ever; Eye-opening pitch clock stat and more.

1. Everybody in sports media always denies what their salary is when someone reports what their salary is.

Stephen A. Smith reportedly makes $8 million a year from ESPN. He has said this figure is not accurate.

Last week, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that last week’s SI Media Podcast guest, Pat McAfee, will make $17 million a year when he joins ESPN this fall.

McAfee has said this figure is not accurate.

Whatever the numbers are, it's clear McAfee will be making more than Smith, and the First Take host addressed this issue on the latest episode of his podcast.

“It’s no secret that even though you don’t know the numbers that I make, even though I’m sure a lot of you think you know, it’s clearly more than I’m making,” Smith said about McAfee’s deal.

“Two things. Number 1: I don’t give a damn. He negotiated his deal a few weeks ago. I negotiated my deal a few years ago. The situation is not the same. I’m a big boy. I’ve been to hell and back. This does not faze me at all. Pat McAfee deserves it. 

“You lookin for some haterade here, wrong place. I admire what he has done. I respect what he has done, so much so that I’m doing it. It’s people like Pat McAfee I get to thank for that.”

Pretty classy comments by Stephen A. Plus, he knows that he can now go to the negotiating table next time his contract is up and use McAfee’s reported salary to get a raise of his own.

2. The Heat pulled off a surprising win in Denver on Sunday night to make the NBA Finals pretty interesting, but the real highlight of the game came via former Broncos running back Terrell Davis.

Former Denver Broncos great Terrell Davis found himself in the middle of this celebration from Miami Heat fans. 🏀🏈😂 pic.twitter.com/QtRdpKHCHU

— The Comeback (@thecomeback) June 5, 2023

3. Despite being a totally noncompetitive game, the Nuggets’ 104–93 win over the Heat in Game 1 of the Finals last Thursday drew 11.6 million viewers, which was down just 3% from Game 1 of the Finals last year.

Considering last year’s Finals featured the Warriors and Celtics and had the star power of Steph Curry, this is not terrible news for the NBA. 

So about the 11.6 million viewers for Heat-Nuggets Game 1 onThursday:

Despite blowout, down just 3% from Warriors-Celts Game 1 in 2022 (both had ESPN2 alternate telecast)

Well above COVID Game 1s (2021, 2020), but exclude those, lowest Game 1 since Spurs-Cavs 2007 (9.2 million)

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) June 5, 2023

4. Indiana infielder Tyler Cerny missed his team’s game Sunday night because he was suspended. Cerny’s infraction? He brought out his team’s home run necklace to put on teammate Peter Serruto after he hit a three-run home run, and the NCAA has a ban on using props for celebrations. What are we doing?

5. Amazing stat on the effect of the pitch clock this season via Jayson Stark.

Let's try this again!

A little pitch-clock nugget from this column:

9-inning games of 3:30 or longer in May of 2022:
48

9-inning games of 3:30 or longer in May of 2023:
0! https://t.co/cxozrV6gaH

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) June 5, 2023

6. The latest SI Media With Jimmy Traina features an interview with Pat McAfee.

Topics covered with McAfee during the one-hour interview include:

• Why is he joining ESPN?

• Will he be able to have non-ESPN guests on his show?

• How much creative control with ESPN have?

• Why is he leaving FanDuel?

• Did his year as a cohost on College GameDay play a role in his joining ESPN?

• Will he ever go back to the WWE?

• His relationship with Vince McMahon

• How McMahon and the WWE's Nick Khan helped him make a decision about his show

• Getting a compliment from former President Barack Obama

• His new spin on the famous botched fake punt he was a part of

• His weekly Aaron Rodgers interviews

• The person he’d most like to have on his show for an interview

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on YouTube.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: On this date, June 5, in 1985, Ferris Bueller took a day off and went to a Cubs game.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.