Sage Steele recalls how Skip Bayless helped her when Bill Simmons wanted her off ‘NBA Countdown’

Former ESPNers Sage Steele and Skip Bayless claimed Bill Simmons had it out for Steele when she hosted “NBA Countdown” in 2014.

During Wednesday’s installment of “The Sage Steele Show,” the former “SportsCenter” anchor praised Bayless for warning her that Simmons was working behind the scenes to get her ousted from the show.

“I don’t know if you remember 2014 [NBA] Finals,” Steele said. “We were in Miami and there was some drama going on behind the scenes on ‘NBA Countdown’ — and we went on a walk … around the lake. And I didn’t 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.

“It was literally like, ‘I 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’re coming.’”

Bayless recalled having “a great walk” with Steele and that things became emotional.

“I had heard things and we looped your hotel a million times in the heat of the afternoon,” Bayless said. “And that’s all we talked about for at least an hour, and I just poured my heart out to you — 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.”

Steele explained that she was confused about why Simmons didn’t want her on the show.

The two had an awkward moment during the Finals when Simmons said, “Do I get to speak now? It’s been like 10 minutes.”

“It was not even about me,” Steele said. “He didn’t want a host, and wanted a talk show without a host, and they threw me in and I was the double.

“But you didn’t have to do that, and I never forgot that either, along with many other things.”

Steele left ESPN in August 2023 after both sides settled a lawsuit she filed following her being removed from the air in October 2021 for comments she made about the company’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.

“I have decided to leave so I can exercise my first amendment rights more freely,” Steele, who worked at ESPN since 2007, said at the time.

Simmons, the founder and CEO of The Ringer, spent 14 years at ESPN as a writer and NBA analyst before being fired in 2015 — following his suspension by the network for comments he made about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. 

Bayless left ESPN in 2016 when his contract expired after joining the worldwide leader in 2004.

He abruptly left FS1’s “Undisputed” in August 2024 following an eight-year run and now hosts his own YouTube show.