It was only a matter of time before Stephen A. Smith responded to Charles Barkley.
Barkley recently referred to ESPN's Kendrick Perkins as a "fool" while criticizing the network for focusing too much on the Los Angeles Lakers. Smith went on First Take Friday to defend his colleague.
“Barkley does television," Smith said. "He’d never be accused of knowing television. That would be Ernie Johnson who handles that responsibility,” Smith said. “Maybe Charles Barkley should look at its rundowns from time to time even though they are an NBA show as opposed to a show that talks about an abundance of things. The fact of the matter is, some stories get a higher profile than others because they resonate with the viewing public. And in television, it’s called ratings.”
"Barkley does television. He'd never be accused of knowing television." - Stephen A. Smith responds to Charles Barkley's ESPN rant pic.twitter.com/46cYDKff1S
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 7, 2025
The situation will get interesting next season when Barkley and TNT's Inside The NBA crew joins ESPN.
“I’m sick and tired of people acting like ‘oh my goodness, we only talk about the Cowboys during the season, we only talk about the Lakers during the basketball season,"' Smith said. "That is factually incorrect,” Smith insisted. “We run from nothing. I do a minimum of about 240 shows a year…we talk about a potpourri of topics. We talk about all sports. But we also pay attention to what’s resonating. That’s why we’re number one. We understand what the audience wants us to talk about.”
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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