Stephen A. Smith accused of 'ruining' the NBA Draft as criticism mounts against $100m ESPN star

ESPN star Stephen A. Smith has been accused of 'ruining' the NBA Draft by basketball fans on social media as well as others who cover the sport, such as OutKick's Dan Dakich. 

Dakich spent a long portion of his show on Friday airing his grievances with Smith, as the episode was titled 'WOKE ESPN & Stephen A. Smith RUINED The NBA Draft'. 

Smith is a staple of ESPN's NBA coverage but has rarely spent time covering the athletes being drafted this week, with Dakich, a former college head coach, taking exception with the network's decision to put him on the broadcast. 

'The best in the draft was always Fran Fraschilla, but Fran Fraschilla is a middle aged white guy. Fran Fraschilla doesn't yell, scream, rant and rave and act like an idiot,' Dakich said. 

'He knows every foreign player. Seth Greenberg on radio knows every current player. But you can't do it because, well, you gotta have some brothers.'

'You got to have loud, you got to have stupid. And, oh, by the way, they're paying the dude 20million a year, which is the dumbest deal in the history of television. I still say this. Can anybody show me where First Take is the highest rated show in the morning like Smith claims? Can anybody show me where Stephen A. Smith makes the money back that he's being paid, anybody? You can't, there's no chance.'

Earlier this year, Smith signed a 5-year, $100million deal with the network, locking him in through 2030 to ESPN.  

Dakich also called the ESPN star 'Screamin' A. Smith' for how he acts on national television. Dakich and Smith were co-workers at ESPN from 2012 until 2021, with Dakich helping with the network's college basketball coverage. 

'ESPN needs to stop putting Stephen A Smith on every event he is not needed for the NBA draft you got staff that been following college ball all year far more knowledgeable,' one fan said on social media. 

Smith has been under a microscope for all of 2025, first toying with a run to be the Democratic nominee for President in 2028. 

Earlier this month, he came under fire for not paying attention during an NBA Finals Game, as he was caught playing on his phone while the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers squared off in front of him. 

Smith responded on X: 'Yep! That’s me. Who would’ve thought….I can multi-task. Especially during TIMEOUTS! Hope y’all are enjoying the NBA Finals. This is going 7 games now, peeps!'  

Yet, the photographer named Kimberly hit back in an instant, shutting down Smith's claim that it was captured during a timeout.

'Fool, this was you during game play,' she replied along with another picture of him tackling the card game. 'There’s videos. You started this new round during timeouts.'