Stephen A. Smith has become one of the most prominent and high-profile personalities in the sports world since joining ESPN in 2003. While his roots have always been in basketball, he began branching out into other sports after debuting on "First Take." However, he is best known for his NBA coverage. On Tuesday, ESPN made a somewhat shocking decision regarding Smith. After serving for several season as one of the faces of "NBA Countdown" — a pregame show airing before televised games on ESPN