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The 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend is in full swing with high-profile players coming together to celebrate the game. Taking part in the celebrations was analyst and commentator Stephen A. Smith. The day before, he was the coach for the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.
Smith's team, however, lost to Team Shannon, coached by Shannon Shape. They were led by Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons who put up 37 points and 16 rebounds, winning MVP.
During Saturday's games, Stephen A. Smith also expressed support for his former college, Winston-Salem State University. He wore a WSSU Rams t-shirt ahead of the college basketball team's HBCU Classic matchup.
The Rams took on the Virginia Union Panthers and won 64-47, taking home the third annual NBA HBCU Classic at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Smith joined WSSU on a basketball scholarship in 1987 after attending a year at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. He played under the Hall of Fame head coach Clarence "Big House" Gaines. Playing collegiately, Smith could have achieved great things, until all his dreams came crashing down.
Stephen A. Smith's derailed plans with basketball
After playing just one year at North Carolina, Smith sustained a career-ending injury. He spoke about it in an appearance on the Podcast P with Paul George.
"I was on a basketball scholarship at Winston-Salem State University. My first year there, I cracked my kneecap in half. I was never able to play again. I actually had to leave school for a semester to go home under my mother's insurance to rehab because they wouldn't pay for the insurance in North Carolina.
"I would come back, make the team, trying to practice and once every 36 to 48 hours, my knee would just give out. I couldn't run without the limp and that's what happened."
Stephen A. Smith admitted that while people try to make fun of him for his failed career, he has no shame in it as he did his best. He maintains that had it not been for this injury, he could have had more impact as a college player. He even claimed that his scholarship offer came after he sank 17 consecutive 3-pointers in front of Gaines during a campus visit.
Despite his playing career being cut short, Smith has remained involved with his alma mater and HBCU athletics in general. In 2017, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Winston-Salem State's athletic conference, the CIAA.
