Former ESPNers Sage Steele and Skip Bayless claimed Bill Simmons had it out for Steele when she hosted \u201cNBA Countdown\u201d in 2014. <\/p>\n
During Wednesday\u2019s installment of \u201cThe Sage Steele Show,\u201d<\/a> the former \u201cSportsCenter\u201d anchor praised Bayless for warning her that Simmons was working behind the scenes to get her ousted from the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if you remember 2014 [NBA] Finals,\u201d Steele said. \u201cWe were in Miami and there was some drama going on behind the scenes on \u2018NBA Countdown\u2019 \u2014 and we went on a walk \u2026 around the lake. And I didn\u2019t know what was willfully happening around me with Bill Simmons, who did not want me on that show. And you gave me the heads up and just were kind with no ill words about him.<\/p>\n Sage Steele praises Skip Bayless for warning her that Bill Simmons apparently didn\u2019t want her on \u201cNBA Countdown\u201d in 2014. YouTube\/Sage Steele<\/p>\n \u201cIt was literally like, \u2018I know you, I see you, I love you as a friend and you need to watch your back and you need to be careful and know that they\u2019re coming.’\u201d <\/p>\n Bayless recalled having \u201ca great walk\u201d with Steele and that things became emotional. <\/p>\n Skip Bayless on \u201cThe Sage Steele Show\u201d on August 13, 2025. YouTube\/Sage Steele<\/p>\n \u201cI had heard things and we looped your hotel a million times in the heat of the afternoon,\u201d Bayless said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s all we talked about for at least an hour, and I just poured my heart out to you \u2014 because I believe in you and definitely believed in your ability then, and you just needed to keep your eyes open and be tough and you were.\u201d<\/p>\n Steele explained that she was confused about why Simmons didn\u2019t want her on the show.<\/p>\n The two had an awkward moment during the Finals when Simmons said, \u201cDo I get to speak now? It\u2019s been like 10 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n Bill Simmons arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of HBO\u2019s \u201cJason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed\u201d at The GRAMMY Museum on March 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cIt was not even about me,\u201d Steele said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want a host, and wanted a talk show without a host, and they threw me in and I was the double.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you didn\u2019t have to do that, and I never forgot that either, along with many other things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Steele left ESPN in August 2023 after both sides settled\u00a0a lawsuit she filed\u00a0<\/a>following her being removed from the air in October 2021 for comments she made about the company\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine policy.<\/p>\n \u201cI have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,\u201d Steele, who worked at ESPN since 2007,\u00a0said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n Simmons, the founder and CEO of The Ringer, spent 14 years at ESPN as a writer and NBA analyst before being fired in 2015 \u2014 following his suspension by the network for comments he made about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.\u00a0<\/p>\n Steele (l) and Simmons (r) during an ESPN show in 2014. @G4NBAVideosHD2\/YouTube<\/p>\n Bayless left ESPN in 2016 when his contract expired after joining the worldwide leader in 2004. <\/p>\n