Kenny Smith Signing Deal With ESPN to Call Games And Appear on First Take
Kenny told the mouse show me the money! And the Brinks truck has been officially backed up. Sources confirm that Kenny Smith is signing a deal with ESPN that will have him call games and appear on First Take episodes.
First Take has seen strong growth in 2025, with its September 2025 audience of 551,000 being a 23% increase from September 2024. Up, First Take and The Pat McAfee Show – earned their highest September viewership ever, while others, including SportsCenter, delivered multi-year highs for September. Now to help keep things fresh, Kenny Smith is being added to the FT mix.
Smith is no stranger to working hard in sports broadcasting. He’s enjoyed working and being a part of a number of programs. For instance, he previously served as an analyst on Fox Sports’ Sunday night ACC men’s basketball package and also made regular appearances as an analyst for Knicks games on MSG Network, leaving the latter role in 2008.
Nonetheless, reporter Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch was among the first to break the ESPN news regarding Kenny Smith’s new deal. Lewis reveals,
“‘Inside the NBA’ analyst Kenny Smith has agreed to a deal with ESPN that includes select NBA game analyst assignments and appearances on the network’s ‘First Take’ morning debate show. Smith will also appear on Wednesday’s ‘NBA Countdown’ as a guest analyst, appearing alongside Malika Andrews, Michael Malone and Kendrick Perkins.
The agreement is separate from Smith’s continuing role with TNT Sports.
The announcement Wednesday comes two weeks into ESPN’s agreement to license the TNT-produced ‘Inside the NBA’ as its primary NBA studio show. So far, the integration of ‘Inside’ and ESPN has been limited to appearances by ESPN reporters for live hits, and there are no indications as yet that the Smith deal is a sign of things to come with his TNT colleagues Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.”
Kenny Smith Signing Deal With ESPN to Call Games And Appear on First Take
Nevertheless, ESPN is very happy with the studio show ratings that they have garnered so far this fall season. And firmly believe that sports fans will keep their remotes and streaming devices locked onto their programming. Flora Kelly, ESPN Senior Vice President of Research says, “This year’s compelling fall sports season, combined with Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel methodology, has further amplified our studio show viewership. We are thrilled with these results, proving that fans continue to turn to ESPN for their sports conversations.”
ESPN has made several changes in recent times to their roster of familiar sports broadcast faces. Keeping some fan favorites and adding outside talent. Now Kenny Smith will get more spotlight on various programs. Congratulations to Smith.
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