Kwame Brown Celebrates After Critics Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas Face ESPN Axe

Gilbert Arenas' arrest along with Shannon Sharpe's release casts a cloud over ESPN as First Take now lacks basketball analysts.

Kwame Brown Celebrates After Critics Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas Face ESPN Axe

Kwame Brown rejoices as Gilbert Arenas and Shannon Sharpe's careers are in jeopardy (Image via FirstSportz)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Sports fans were focused on the recent arrest of Marcus Morris over a fraud charge when another bombshell dropped about Gilbert Arenas‘ arrest. That makes it two ESPN analysts who are looking forward to their contracts being ripped up.

Arenas’ illegal poker ring charges could result in a 15-year prison sentence. As of now, he has been released on bond and will face trial on September 23rd. The outcome of that would decide his future with the network.

He had started to appear alongside Stephen A. Smith on First Take and was involved in some serious debates about LeBron James’ legacy as well as the narrative around the ring culture.

One of the players to have criticized James and his legacy was former Lakers center Kwame Brown. Whenever the former 1st overall pick used to talk about the 40-year-old superstar, Arenas was there to counter him.

Another former athlete to have criticized Brown’s takes on James was NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe. He, too, is now out of ESPN. The network severed ties with him after his highly publicized lawsuit. Now Brown is having the last laugh.

Today is like my birthday…. You said I was a drunk, I don’t even drink… I feel so good… Shannon Sharpe, your big talking-a** fired. Shannon Sharpe, your thick tongue a** fired. God damn, Gil, you’re in the slammer. You’re facing fifteen years, five years on each charge, right?

Kwame Brown said on his podcast

The 43-year-old took shots at his former Washington Wizards teammate, claiming he cannot snitch anymore as he is facing some serious allegations of illegal activity. Brown then went on to talk about how Gilbert Arenas thwarted both of Nick Young‘s careers.

Kwame Brown believes Gilbert Arenas has negatively impacted Nick Young’s career

Kwame Brown played alongside Gilbert Arenas for two seasons at the Washington Wizards before leaving for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, the center knew his former teammate’s ways and blamed them for undermining Nick Young’s career.

You f***ed up Swaggy P’s career the first time. Swaggy P could’ve been a better basketball player than you. You were a dumba** veteran, and you f***ed up Swaggy P’s career. Now you’ve done f***ed up Swaggy P’s second career. Swaggy P is one of the funniest n****s on the show; he’s crazy, almost got in a fight with Kenyon. Now ain’t no more Swaggy P.

Kwame Brown said

In the second part of that rant, Brown refers to Nick Young, aka Swaggy P’s career as a podcaster. There is no doubt that the former champion brings a lot of humor to Gil’s Arena and is a fan favorite.

The former 1st overall pick believes this arrest will undermine Nick Young for a second time. 1st, as his veteran of the Wizards, and now his arrest will cast a dark cloud over the future of the show.

Gilbert Arenas and Shannon Sharpe’s situation could impact Stephen A. Smith

If Marcus Morris faces jail time, his career as an up-and-coming basketball analyst on ESPN could be over. Now, after Shannon Sharpe has been officially let go, the curtains have come down on his stellar time on First Take.

Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe on First Take
Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe on First Take (Image via Open Source/X)

If Gilbert Arenas is sentenced to a prison term, that would mean Stephen A. Smith would be without 3 analysts he brought on First Take. He was involved in their hiring. Now he will have to save both his reputation as well as the network’s.

Smith is now vacationing and only appears momentarily on First Take to talk about important subjects. He is scheduled to return at the end of August. However, his vacations could be cut short as he will be left without proper basketball analysts.

Sharpe, Morris, and Arenas were scheduled to fill up the 5 days First Take is on air. Now, Stephen A. Smith’s task of finding basketball analysts will become that much more difficult since most of the experienced analysts have been snapped up by NBC and Amazon.

Also Read: