Key Takeaways
- Sage Steele says her longtime friendship with Doc Rivers soured after she left ESPN and became more vocal about her personal views, claiming he sent her “pages and pages” of DMs calling her an idiot before unfollowing and blocking her.
- She alleges Rivers repeatedly pushed political clips and commentary when she only wanted to talk basketball and family, a point she made during an appearance on The Rubin Report, where she reflected on why she doesn’t miss NBA broadcasting.
- After settling her lawsuit with ESPN and Disney and launching The Sage Steele Show, Steele says she now watches far less regular-season NBA, prefers being a fan over a broadcaster, but still follows stars like Victor Wembanyama and Jalen Brunson.
Sage Steele says her longtime relationship with Doc Rivers changed dramatically after she stepped away from sports broadcasting and became more open about her personal views. During an appearance on The Rubin Report, the former ESPN anchor claimed Rivers flooded her inbox with unsolicited messages criticizing her beliefs—then unfollowed and blocked her.
Steele discussed the alleged exchange while explaining why she has not missed covering the NBA since leaving ESPN three years ago. Although she once considered Rivers a friend, she said their conversations eventually moved far beyond basketball. “I’m going to show you later the DMs from this man,” Steele told host Dave Rubin. “Pages and pages of why I’m such an idiot.”
According to Steele, Rivers repeatedly sent her clips and commentary even though she wanted to keep their conversations focused on sports and family. “Out of the blue, he would send me clips,” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘I just want to talk basketball with you,’ or, like, ‘How are your kids? You have grandkids now.’”
Steele said Rivers later unfollowed and blocked her, effectively ending a friendship built during her years around the NBA.
The alleged messages came as Steele was moving into a different phase of her public career. She left ESPN in August 2023 after settling a lawsuit against the network and its parent company, Disney, over how the company handled her comments and its COVID-19 vaccination policy.
Since then, she has launched The Sage Steele Show, conducted long-form interviews and spoken publicly about her career and personal life outside the traditional sports-media structure.
That distance has also changed Steele’s relationship with basketball. She said she watched almost no NBA games during the most recent regular season, returning only for the playoffs. “I can honestly say that was my biggest fear leaving,” Steele said when asked whether she missed working at the network level. “I thought I would, and I just don’t.”
After nearly 30 years of tracking players, teams and statistics, Steele said she now prefers to experience sports as a fan, without the constant pressure of preparing for broadcasts.
Still, Steele remains closely connected to the game. During the interview, she praised Victor Wembanyama’s development and called New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson someone she would like to see win MVP.
