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Stephen A. Smith has rejected working with Skip Bayless as the popular pundit confessed he has bigger plans in the works following Bayless' decision to leave FS1's Undisputed channel.
Despite previously collaborating, with some going as far as to say Bayless saved Smith's career, there will be no fabled reunion at ESPN or on Smith's own podcast channels as the First Take host dispelled the idea.
"Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, together as partners, working across from each other on a debate show, is over. It's been over," Smith said on his YouTube channel. "This is not the first time I've said it.
"There's no negativity or shade being shown at Skip Bayless. I have moved on. I'm past all of that.
"Me connecting and reigniting things with Skip Bayless is not what I want my future to be. That is a past that I'll always celebrate and be appreciative of, but that ain't where I'm at now. I got bigger plans for myself that don't include him nor anybody else as a partner."
Smith previously itted that the pair don't really have a relationship as friends either and that has been the way since Bayless decided to head to FS1 in 2016, with the former saying they were on opposite sides of the fence.
Despite the limited communication and , Smith doesn't want Bayless to fail in a show of respect to his colleague and peer.
"But as I've stated on many occasions I don't root against my colleagues and contemporaries and certainly not my friends," Smith added. "Being on First Take and wanting to be No. 1 doesn't mean I wanted Skip Bayless to fail.
"[It] doesn't mean that I want to see him out of the business."
ESPN count Bayless out
ESPN have no plans to undercut Smith to hire the 72-year-old as they've already distanced themselves from the prospect of hiring him despite their previous association.
"We are set with the current First Take rotation," an ESPN spokesperson told Front Office Sports. "And [we] wish Skip the best on his future endeavors."