Reports: Adam Silver to propose 22-team restart plan; play-in for nine-seed only if within 4 games

Stephen A. Smith and ESPN have agreed to a five-year, $100 million deal. Smith will continue to star on “First Take” while scaling back some of his other required appearances. Smith will be less omnipresent on ESPN and will not be a regular on their premier NBA pregame show anymore. Smith was previously earning $12 million per year with the network.

Smith has been a fixture on ESPN’s top NBA pregame show, “Countdown,” which precedes The Finals. ESPN has signed a licensing agreement with TNT for the Charles Barkley-led “Inside The NBA.” Smith was supportive of the move.

Smith will be freed up to allow make more appearances on other platforms to talk politics and earn more money outside of ESPN. Smith has talked about the possibility of running for president.

Jayson Tatum had his left, non-shooting, wrist heavily wrapped for a large chunk of last season. There was a thought Tatum might need offseason surgery on the wrist, but according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Celtics star opted against surgery.

“(Tatum) went into the offseason thinking he might need surgery on his non-shooting wrist,” Shelburne said. “(He) went to a bunch of specialists and essentially decided ‘I’m not going to get surgery. I don’t need it.'”

Shelburne added that Tatum said he feels really good heading into the season.