Stephen A. Smith off ESPN for a month; Fox Sports host sued over Twitter comments

Stephen A. Smith has been uncharacteristically quiet on ESPN recently.

Yes, this is a slow time for news, when many high-profile sports media personalities take their vacations. But there have been a number of huge NBA developments in recent weeks, headlined by Kevin Durant’s request to be traded out of Brooklyn, and Smith has been absent from ESPN’s airwaves.

It’s been nearly a month since Smith, a former Inquirer reporter and columnist, has appeared on First Take. His last appearance on ESPN was a hit on Sportscenter on June 30, where he was wearing some type of shoulder harness.

So where is ESPN’s loudest voice? Rehabbing.

Smith said on Twitter Thursday he is recovering from shoulder surgery following a partial tear in his rotator cuff and bicep, as well as a frayed labrum. Smith also said he’s dealing with a bone spur.

“Aging sucks, but it is what it is,” Smith wrote on Twitter.

This isn’t the first time Smith has dealt with shoulder problems. In 2019, Smith required surgery after tearing his rotator cuff while boxing, but still found time to trash Sixers star Joel Embiid after a poor performance during a November loss to the Toronto Raptors, where he scored zero points in 32 minutes on the court.

“I’m 52 years old with a torn rotator cuff I’m rehabbing from, with a knee problem that has existed, spanning three decades. And I could have scored as many points as Joel Embiid did last night,” Smith said on his since-canceled radio show.

Smith said he expects to return to First Take next month.

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Fox Sports host Doug Gottlieb does his talking on the radio, but it’s his comments that he made on Twitter that have gotten him in hot water.

Last month, Gottlieb claimed in a tweet that Casey Close, the former agent of Freddie Freeman, never told the star first baseman about a final contract offer that could have kept him with the Atlanta Braves. As a result, the World Series champ and five-time All-Star signed a six-year, $162 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But Close said in a statement last month “there is no truth whatsoever” to what Gottlieb tweeted, and is now suing the Fox Sports host for libel, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by the Athletic.

The complaint alleges that Gottlieb didn’t attempt to seek a comment from either Close or Excel Sports, his agency, prior to commenting on Twitter. They also claim they requested that Gottlieb retract his tweet, which remains visible on his account.

“Gottlieb made the defamatory statements about Plaintiffs, who are private figures, in a grossly irresponsible manner without due consideration for the standards of information gathering and dissemination ordinarily followed by responsible parties,” the complaint reads.

According to the complaint, Close has received death threats from “people believed to be Atlanta Braves fans” and claims the Braves rejected two contract proposals. Close said he asked the Braves if they have an offer he could take to Freeman, and “the Atlanta Braves responded in the negative.”

Days after Freeman returned to Atlanta on June 24 with the Dodgers, he fired Close, the complaint notes. Freeman has not discussed the situation publicly, and iHeartMedia (which airs Gottlieb’s show) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.