Started his career with Print Media and now rules the Broadcast Media as one of the most popular faces. The fact Stephen A Smith is as known a name in the basketball community as any other NBA star is a testament to this. No wonder that the 56-year-old ESPN analyst, even after three decades of his career, has stayed in demand. However, Smith believes the credit for his success goes to all the basketball legends he covered over the years.

This came in a conversation with Udonis Haslem during his recent appearance on ‘The OGs’ podcast. Smith stated his first learning opportunity came with the late John Chaney. The 2001 HOF coach was best known for his success at Temple University from 1982 through 2006. During this time, he claimed the 1978 NCAA Division II tournament and 6 Atlantic-10 tournaments with his team. Apart from this, he also secured multiple Coach of the Year awards for himself.

Learning basketball from the right name before his graduation, Smith’s next big opportunity came with covering the NBA. He stated in the podcast how he developed bonds with players like Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and many others during his media career. “So there’s so many legends that I’ve learned from along the way… You know, it’s not about me being brilliant… But I learned from brilliance and stealing the knowledge from them and disseminating it to the masses,” he added.

And this is not the first instance that Smith has credited his success to one of his NBA friends. Notably, he and Allen Iverson have been closest of friends. So much so that Iverson is the only person for whom Stephen A Smith claims to lose his objectivity. The incident goes back to the time Iverson was pissed at one of Stephen’s stories about him.

But upon meeting, Smith found it was not the story but the fact that he covered it that bothered AI. ” [Iverson] said there’s nobody in the industry that could hurt me but you,” Smith recalled in an episode of Podcast P. In a separate conversation with JJ Redick, Smith had also reflected on what Al means to him. “… I don’t believe I’m sitting here in this position today if it were not for Allen Iverson,” he said. And over the time, this position for the 56-year-old has significantly improved.

Stephen A Smith to create history with his success

Notably, Smith has seen the phase where he was perceived as one of the most hated man in sports media. So much so that according to collegespun.com, a fan vote with more than 600,000 ballots cast elected him as the most annoying person in sports media.

But the fact he is likely to become ESPN’ first $100 million man is a testament of his success despite any backlash he may have faced. The network already offered Stephen A Smith a 5 year, $90 million extension, but he rejected it to demand a contract in the reported range of $100 million – $125 million.

“The stars are aligning for Smith to possibly become ESPN’s first $100 million talent. Sources have relayed that his new compensation could eventually come in between $20 million and $25 million per year over five years,” Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports reported.