Kenny Smith NBA Champion, Inside the NBA, analyst, UNC hooper, never-told stories with MJ, Dean Smith wisdom, Rockets championships, Shaq & Barkley, Wemby, playing in Jordan era, on silence being loudest voice & his 2026 NBA Finals prediction.
5/26/20261 hr 12 min
“Champions do daily what everyone does occasionally.”-Kenny Smith NBA champion, award-winning analyst, and basketball icon Kenny “The Jet” Smith joins The Pivot for a layered conversation about basketball, brotherhood, family, and legacy. From his early days at the University of North Carolina playing under legendary coach Dean Smith to winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Houston Rockets, Kenny reflects on the defining moments that shaped his career and his life. Kenny opens up about competing during the Michael Jordan era and shares stories about his longtime relationship with MJ, what made him different, and how that generation transformed basketball forever. He reveals never-told-before stories of college shenanigans, ultimate confidence and being touted the 6th overall pick yet still having animosity towards a certain someone in Chicago. The conversation also jumps into the chemistry and chaos behind the scenes of the award-winning Inside the NBA, as Kenny reveals what it’s really like working alongside Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson on one of the most beloved shows in sports television. He opens up about how the show became one of the most influential programs in sports television and why authenticity has always mattered most as it's given an extra voice to new media like podcasts. Beyond basketball, Kenny gets candid about fatherhood, marriage, relationships, personal growth, and navigating life in the spotlight while staying grounded through family. The crew also talks about the current state of the NBA, the rise of Victor Wembanyama, today’s superstars, the evolution of the game, and what the future of basketball looks like moving forward. Kenny doubles down on his official prediction for who will win the 2026 NBA Finals in a conversation filled with laughs, wisdom, untold stories, and real perspective that only that locker room can deliver. Pivot Family...comment, like, hit the subscribe button, we enjoy hearing and learning from you- the good and the bad, we want to know! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKenny Smith· Guest0:00
You said this place was steps from the water We just haven't found the steps yet How much did we save?
Speaker 20:06
Enough [growls] Enough to get lost? Or you could book a stay with Hilton Welcome to your oceanfront room, just steps from the water The Hilton sale is on now. Book on hilton.com or the Hilton app and save up to 20% to get the stay you expected. When you want savings, not surprises, it matters where you stay. Hilton. For the stay Kenny Smith isn't just the guy from inside the NBA that sits next to Chuck and Ernie, or the guy that adds some levity to Shaqtin' a Fool.
Ryan Clark· Host0:38
He's one of the top 35 high school basketball players of all time. He was the Collegiate Player of the Year, a lottery pick, a 10-year NBA veteran, and a two-time NBA champion with the Houston Rockets. Okay, now that that's done, 'cause that was a lot, let's be real. Kenny is comfortable being the guy from TV, and trust me, when you listen to this conversation, it's apparent that he's been sitting on that desk for the last 28 years. The New York-bred guard takes us back to a time before AAU and even cell phones, when crowds, as he puts it, was on that Brooklyn bull-ish. He brings us into a conversation with Dean Smith like the young Kenny had never had, and a rockstar lifestyle that accompanied playing with Michael Jordan at UNC. But it was more than just young Kenny. There were conversations about the dream, his three-point barrage