Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
Stephen A. congratulates the Emmy Award-winning TNT show, “Inside the NBA,” hosted by Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith on joining ESPN/ABC for the 2025-2026 NBA season.
All right, let's get to some quick hitters.
We'll start in women's college basketball, where USC sophomore Juju Watkins continues to make history. Watkins reached one thousand career points this weekend in the eighty one to fifty Trojan victory over Santa Clara. Watkins reached the mark twenty games quicker than Trojan legend Cheryl Miller, and she also did it in two games fewer than former IOWA superstar Caitlin Clark. Ladies, gentlemen, let me tell y'all something about Juju Watkins. She's going to the w NBA sooner than later, and when she gets there, she's gonna be a flat out star.
This girl has got it.
I will remind you in the NCAA tournament as a freshman, I think one game she dropped twenty seven. I think it was in the lost when they got eliminated in the NCAA tournament. The girls got skills. She can flat out ball. When I think about Caitlyn Clark, I think I look at her passing ability, but she's this is a long range sniper. When you look at Juju Watkins, she's strong's.
She's bigger than the average sister. She can ball. You know, she's got a handle, she can get to the.
Basket, she can finish at the basket, She's good in the open court.
Plus she has a j She's special.
She's special, and I think that once she gets to the w NBA, she has star written all over her. So I'm so glad that that Caitlyn Clark is doing her thing in the WNBA, but that she's going from college basketball because I think this college basketball season we're gonna be talking about Juju Watkins a whole hell of a lot, make no mistake about it. I actually got to find a way to get to one of their games. I promise them I would get to one of their games USC this year, So I got to go see that.
Anyway.
That's all I have to say about that. Let me get to the NBA, mind you where I want to give props. I want to take a moment and pause and give props to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Calves beat to Charlotte Hornets last night, one twenty eight to one fourteen, bringing their record to fifteen and oh to start the season. The Calves are the fourth team to start fifteen and zer and are tied for the second best start to a season and then be a history. They only trailed the twenty fifteen twenty sixteen Golden State Warriors, who started the season twenty four and oh and if you remember, Steve Kerr was ill a little bit of that time, and Luke Walton took over at some point and was coaching the team and what have you.
But the Warriors were the Warriors. We get that. We didn't see this coming from Cleveland.
I get props where his due. I mean Donovan Mitchell. I loved that brother. I believe in him. But Darius Garland had a down year last year. Evan Mobley wasn't healthy. Jared Allen got hurt in the playoff before the playoffs began, couldn't play in the playoffs. I know they're a good team. I just didn't expect them to be fifteen. And oh, here's what I would tell you about Cleveland. We thought that the Eastern Conference was a three horse race between Boston, the Knicks and a healthy Philadelphia seventy six and squad with Joel and Bed. But hell, Joel and Bid, Paul George and Tyres backs. He have already been hurt this early in the season. Nobody expects Joel and b to be healthy. We're praying that Paul George will stay that way. We got to add a fourth team to that, and that's the Cleveland Cavaliers. Okay, I don't think Orlando's quite ready that Ben Carol's been hurt. Once he gets back, I get it, because he's a stud and I know it, but I'm not sold on them as of yet.
Cleveland.
Let me tell you what Atkinson has done. First of all, he's done a great job. He's paid attention to detail and stuff like that, and that clearly has elevated the team where they seem to be a bit happier than they were playing under Bernie Bickerstaff. I get all of that, even though I respect to her, not not Bernie big Staff but his son. But yeah, all I'm saying to you is this, when I think about what I'm seeing from the Cleveland Cavaliers.
I gotta get props where props is doing.
I just want to check my notes here because I'll tell you something right now. I'm looking at Cleveland right now, and you've got the ball in Evan Mobley's hands even more, all right, and I think that's very, very important. And by doing so, what you're gonna do is position yourself to really really make some noise. I mean, I'm looking at them last year under JB. Bickerstaff and I'm like, Okay, he knows what he's doing, he can coach.
But there was.
Something missing Kenny Atkinson being there, the same Atkinson that was let go by the Brooklyn Nets, the same Atkinson that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving didn't mind walking out the door. And they should have held on to that man because he kind of knows what he's doing. Now, you got a situation, you sit up there and you look at what's transpiring.
I'm just at the mindset with Kenny Atkinson as the coach.
Look give him credit where credit is due, and putting the ball in Mobley's hands even more and making him more offensively assertive has really elevated them.
If they could keep this up, who knows what they could do.
I still think they're on the outside looking in at the big two, which is the Knicks and Boston, even though they look better than both right now. But in the best of seventh series, I gotta wonder about that. But Donovan Mitchell is that dude. I've always believed in them. I always wanted him to be in the New York Knicks you to form, but in being in Cleveland with them doing what they're doing, I can't say enough about it. Got to get props where it's due. Watch out for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Watch out for the Cleveland Cavaliers. On to the next item. Let me give props to James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, please. He made history Sunday this week and becoming the NBA second all time leader in three pointers made. Harden made two threes yesterday and the Clippers won sixteen one to five victory against the Utah Jazz. He's now got two nine hundred and seventy five career three pointers to move past Ray Allen's twenty nine hundred and seventy three. Steph Curry is the all time three point king with nearly thirty eight hundred three pointers made from the Golden State Warriors. So good luck and trying to catch him. But that's not to take away from James Harden. James Harden during those years in Houston was one of the most magnificent offensive players we've ever seen, absolutely positively unstoppable one on one.
We gotta remember that.
And in the process of remembering all of that, we got to remember that even though he's older now, maybe having lost a step and what have you, James Harden can still ball. He can still ball, he can still make things happen. Here's what I'm gonna give him the most credit.
Damn it.
At least he shows up. At least he's on the court ready to play all the damn time. I know people want to point to him forcing his way out of Brooklyn and then forcing his way out of Philadelphia, but for the most part throughout his career, he showed up to play, which is more than we can save for Kawhi Lennard.
Because the Clippers, let's face reality.
They're not going too far if all they've got to rely upon is James Harden. Paul George is gone. They should have invested in him and let Kawhi Lennett walk.
But they didn't do that.
And because Steve Balmer didn't do own it for the Clippers didn't do that, all these guys James Harden, and at least James Harden shows up to play and he can still score so just give love where's due. My last topic is good news for NBA fans worldwide. That's because the hit show Inside the NBA with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, the one and only Shaquille O'Neill, and of course, the incomparable Ernie Johnson is no longer a casualty of the new NBA deal.
This was supposed to be the last.
Season of Inside the NBA on TNT, but thanks to a settlement between Warner Brothers, Discovery, and the League Office, the show will continue on ESPN and ABC starting in the twenty twenty five to twenty twenty six season. For those of you who don't know, Inside the NBA has won twenty one Sports Emmy Awards since it started in nineteen eighty nine. A lot of people have been asking me about this, wondering how I feel about it, wondering what it means for my future, et cetera, et cetera. Doesn't affect me at all. I've got first take, I got a lot of other things going on. Secondly, here's the biggest reason why wouldn't affect me. All of them are my boys. Ernie Johnson is a phenomenal human being, A great host, a great man. I love him to death. Shaquille O'Neill is my brother Kenny Smith, and I go back to my days in junior high school when his brother Vincent Smith used to train me as a basketball player. And then of course is the one and only Charles Barkley himself, who I also loved dearly. Their friends and not just to me, but anybody in the NBA community. How can you not love and respect and revere these brothers. And to see that this show still scheduled to be produced in Atlanta by the TNT folks and what have you airing on ESPN and ABC, to note that these brothers are going to stay together and continue to do the NBA for years to come. I can't be more happier for them, because I know that it created a lot of chaos once TNT lost its deal with the NBA, courtesy of Amazon and others of course, major major props and Commissioner Adam Silver to President Jimmy Pittarboro of ESPN, along with the President Content mister Burke, Magnus bob Igen himself, CEO of Well Diss, and everybody else in between.
It's the right thing.
It's the right thing, and so you know when they come to ESPN, I mean, they'll still be doing their thing again. It's their show based out of Atlanta that will be airing probably twice a week in all likelihood. But the biggest thing is that you know, hey fall intened purposes their teammates, not just my brothers. So I'm looking forward to watching them continuing to show their greatness as commentators covering the game of basketball. Like I said, Kenny Smith and I go back many many years, love them to death, and Shaq and Chuck speak for themselves, it's the best thing that could have happened for the NBA in the media industry. I couldn't be happier, wishing them nothing but the best. Looking forward to seeing my boys on the channel that I work on, at least at the moment.
Y'all welcome a board. Fellas, welcome a board.