There’s no denying that Stephen A. Smith is one of the biggest names in sports media. What is up for debate, however, is Smith’s athletic prowess before the full-time transition to covering the game.
Smith’s athletic feats will surely come back into the spotlight when he leads Team Stephen A. against Shannon Sharpe’s Team Shannon in the 2024 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium on Friday.
With a star-studded roster that features C.J. Stroud, Metta World Peace and Jennifer Hudson, among others, Smith will look to use his coaching skills to strategize his way to victory. But what about his playing skills?
Here’s a look back at the playing career that preceded Smith’s rise in the media space.
MORE: Everything you need to know about All-Star 2024
Did Stephen A. Smith play basketball?
Stephen A. Smith played collegiately at Division II Winston-Salem State University, a historically Black university in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Notable Winston-Salem State alumni include Basketball Hall of Famer Earl Monroe and Warriors guard Chris Paul, who recently graduated from his hometown’s HBCU after playing collegiately just 10 minutes away at Wake Forest University.
Smith, a native of New York City, transferred to play at Winston-Salem State after spending a year playing on the junior college level at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. At Winston-Salem State, Smith played under Hall of Fame head coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines.
During a 2023 podcast appearance, Smith alleged that his scholarship offer to Winston-Salem State came after he sank 17 consecutive 3-pointers in front of Gaines during a campus visit.
Smith’s basketball career was cut short due to injury, a circumstance he explained on Paul George’s “Podcast P with Paul George” show.
I was on a basketball scholarship at Winston-Salem State University. My first year there, I cracked my kneecap in half. I was never able to play again. I actually had to leave school for a semester to go home under my mother’s insurance to rehab because they wouldn’t pay for the insurance in North Carolina. I would come back, make the team, trying to practice and once every 36 to 48 hours, my knee would just give out. I couldn’t run without the limp and that’s what happened.
As he detailed what went wrong with his basketball career, Smith added that he feels no shame when people attempt to downplay his college accolades. Smith maintains that had it not been for his injury, he would have been much more impactful as a college player.
While his injury kept him from being impactful on the floor, Smith has remained involved with his alma mater and HBCU athletics as a whole. In 2017, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Winston-Salem State’s athletic conference, the CIAA.
Smith’s alma mater will take center stage at the 2024 All-Star Weekend as Winston-Salem State will face conference foe Virginia Union in the 2024 NBA HBCU Classic at Indianapolis’ Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
