'First Take' anchor Stephen A. Smith said ESPN colleagues who were laid off 'deserved better.'
Smith took a moment to shout out several colleagues, including Rose, a"brilliant basketball mind" that appeared on"NBA Countdown" alongside Smith, and Van Gundy, ESPN's top NBA color analyst who Smith called"a Hall of Fame analyst and commentator.”
"Jeff was an outstanding, brilliant basketball analyst for ESPN for years. I could say I’m gonna miss him but I just can’t imagine he’s gonna be out of work for long," Smith said of Van Gundy, who was part of the network's"A team" alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and fellow analyst Mark Jackson.from 2016 to 2021.
“I am not happy that he is gone. We all know what history we had. We all know what happened with he and I parting ways on ‘First Take.’ I don’t want the brother unemployed. I want him gainfully employed. I want him having a job and a career," Smith said. “And that brother knows his boxing inside and out, is smart as a whip, and has been around a long time. I wish him no ill will.
Despite the layoffs, Smith said people"shouldn't blame Disney or ESPN," but instead should blame the economy and inflation. He added,"Times are bad right now and that's why you see things reverting back."
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