Stephen A. Smith has gotten an official “warning” about his time at ESPN.

The popular ESPN personality, who reportedly signed a $100 million contract, is all over the place. He’s on basically every platform that ESPN has. If there’s one thing to criticize ESPN for in 2025, it’s that the majority of its content revolves around a small group of people – Smith being at the forefront of that.

ESPN is about to bring in a new big personality, though. Turner Sports’ “Inside the NBA” will be licensed by ESPN beginning in 2025-26. Charles Barkley, arguably the most popular figure in all of sports broadcasting, has issued an official “warning” to Smith about his time at ESPN.


Stephen A. Smith prior to the Phoenix Suns against the Milwaukee Bucks in game three of the 2021 NBA Finals. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Barkley, who will appear on “Inside the NBA” for ESPN, has said that he won’t be appearing on anymore of the network’s shows. He thinks that Smith could be better off with a similar strategy.

The former NBA star believes that “less is more.”

“You know, Stephen A.’s a friend of mine but he needs to stop right now,” Barkley told OutKick’s Dan Dakich last week on his Don’t @ Me podcast. “I don’t go on a bunch of shows. Less is more. Because the more you do, the less people take you serious. And I don’t feel the need to grab every dime at my disposal. Like, I’ve been arguing with my agent. He says, ‘We can do five to seven commercials a year.’ I said, ‘We’re going to do two commercials a year — that’s it.’ I don’t want to be on TV all the time. I get sick of seeing myself doing March Madness. … I don’t do a bunch of TV stuff, because people get sick of you. That’s my No. 1 thing. People will get sick of you.”

While “less is more” for people like Barkley, it might not be true for Stephen A. Smith.

Smith’s biggest talent is his work ethic. There are a lot of people in sports media that bloviate and offer up hot takes. Smith is who he is, at least in part, because he’s always around. If that wasn’t the case, would he still be as popular as he is?