Stephen A. Smith and Bill Simmons Discuss the Problem With ESPN’s NBA Studio Shows

Also in Traina Thoughts: The good and the bad from the MLB All-Star Game; Britney wants an apology; most powerful media figures and more.

1. The crew for ESPN’s NBA pregame, halftime and postgame show has changed many times over the years, but the network still can’t seem to come up with the right formula to win over viewers.

It doesn’t help that TNT’s NBA coverage features one of the great studio shows of all time and probably the greatest studio show cast of all time in Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal.

However, ESPN's NBA studio show problem isn't just about the cast, according to Stephen A. Smith and Bill Simmons. 

Smith was a guest on Simmons’s podcast this week, and the duo broke down the main issue with ESPN’s NBA studio show. 

“If we had the time at ESPN to have a postgame show like TNT does, I would have been hyped and wired for that,” Smith told Simmons.

"What happens is that once you do Countdown, you recognize the fact that over the next four to four and a half, five hours, you’re gonna be lucky if you get eight minutes of airtime.

"So that is, again, it's nobody's fault. You got a TV contract, you gotta play the games, this is the television real estate that you have available to you. It’s nobody’s fault. 

"I’m just simply saying that when you are a guy that comes on TV as much as I do, I’m a person that when the lights come on, I’m ready. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t know what happens to me. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life, but when those lights come on, it doesn’t matter how tired I am, it doesn't matter how sick I am. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, I’m ready to perform. And so for me, when you have to step back and you’re so limited, you’ve got to remember I’m kind of spoiled because First Take is two hours, and it’s basically my show.

"I get to talk a lot on First Take and to go from that to just the limitations at halftime, it was a challenge for me.”

Simmons then weighed in with thoughts on his experience as a member of ESPN’s NBA studio show back in 2012.

“I hated the halftimes when I did it,” said Simmons. “It just wasn’t enough time and everyone says a point and it goes to the next person, and nobody is having a conversation. And the postgame, to me, that’s the whole reason to have the show.

"This game just happened, what do you think? A lot of times at ESPN, they just throw it right to SportsCenter or they’ll do whatever. You just flew us here to this location; let us talk about what happened.”

Smith then brought up that ESPN has certain contractual obligations, which is why the network goes to SportsCenter immediately after a game.

However, ESPN has about 50 channels, It could easily put a postgame show featuring the Countdown crew on ESPN2 or ESPNNews if it wanted to.

2. Two All-Star Game observations: One, MLB embarrassed itself Tuesday night by making the players wear those hideous jerseys. Two, the league’s social media team did a nice job with this video compilation of all the miked-up moments from the game.

3. A reader recently sent in a question for my SI Media Mailbag asking if this was the year the Home Run Derby beats the All-Star Game in the ratings. I said it wouldn’t happen and it looks like I was right because viewership for the derby on ESPN was down from 6.88 million last year to 6.11 million this year.

The Home Run Derby averaged 6.11 million viewers last night across ESPN and ESPN2.

🔲Lowest figure for the HR Derby since 5.9 million in 2018 (no All-Star weekend in 2020)
🔲Down 11% from 6.88 million in 2022
🔲ESPN regular telecast: 5.52 million; ESPN2 StatCast: 596,000 pic.twitter.com/t2Qcq9Wafp

— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) July 11, 2023

4. I was off last week when the surreal Britney Spears–Victor Wembamyama story broke. I still can’t even process the thought of Britney trying to track down Wemby in a restaurant and then things turning physical.

It seems the pop icon still hasn’t moved on from the incident because she addressed it again Tuesday night in an Instagram video and called out Wemby’s camp for not issuing a public apology.

Spears was speaking out about a report she saw where someone said she deserved to be hit

“Point being is, I didn’t appreciate the people saying that I deserved to be hit, because no woman ever deserves to be hit,” said in the video. “I simply tapped him on the back and I was backhanded, hit in my face, came back on the floor, my best friend picked me up and held me. And I did get an apology … at my table … 30 minutes later. But I’ve yet to receive a public apology. That’s it.”

5. It’s Power Week at SI.com and as part of the package, I wrote this piece on the top 10 most powerful people in sports media.

6. There are two recent SI Media podcasts for your listening pleasure in case you missed them over the 4th of July holiday.

First up was a great conversation with Adam Schein of SiriusXM and CBS Sports Network.

Schein talked about the challenges of doing a national show for SiriusXM and the differences between hosting a radio show and podcast, who he’d like to interview right now, what he does on the radio during a slow news day, the radio gimmicks he hates, why he took on a podcast, having the perfect voice for radio and more.

I also did a quick podcast about the ESPN layoffs and shared my thoughts on the sad turn of events at the World Wide Leader. This podcast also featured my weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment where we read Apple reviews for the month of June.

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: Since the ESPYs take place tonight, this is a good day to remember Norm McDonald’s legendary monologue from the 1998 show.

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.