ESPN's Stephen A. Smith had a chance to stand up to the NFL. Instead, he capitulated.

ESPN's Stephen A. Smith is someone I've admired for decades. I don't know Smith well but I've always respected him. He's immensely talented and understands the television universe as well as anyone in that medium. Few people are smarter and it was also inspiring seeing one of a handful of journalist voices of color rise to the top.

I was never one of these people who believed Smith had sold out. Oh, this has been constantly discussed privately among some in the business. And also publicly by others. But I saw Smith as someone who was adaptive. Not someone who compromised himself for power and money.

I was wrong.

There's no other way to look at what Smith allegedly texted to journalist Jim Trotter as anything other than Smith compromising himself. This isn't easy to write but it's important to. It's important because Smith is one of the most powerful people in all of sports. Not just sports journalism. All of sports. His voice has reach and say. Leagues like the NFL and NBA listen to his every word. He's friends with owners and star players. He moves markets in ways few others in sports journalism can. People may try and deny it but what he says and does matters.

He's become so influential that like Pat McAfee and a handful of others, his power must be examined and chronicled. People with that kind of power must look internally at how they wield it. Apparently, that's not what Smith (or McAfee) does. What Smith allegedly said to Trotter, who is fighting a significant battle against the NFL that Trotter says discriminated against him was, frankly, shameful.

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An ESPN spokesman told USA TODAY Sports that Smith declined comment for this story.

The backdrop: Last month Trotter filed a lawsuit against the NFL alleging discrimination and retaliation after his contract wasn't renewed following Trotter twice challenging Commissioner Roger Goodell about the lack of diversity inside the NFL Media newsroom.

Trotter recently appeared on the Slate.com podcast with Dr. Jason Johnson. Trotter spoke about the case but one part of the conversation was staggering. It had to do with Trotter's disappointment with how some in the media have handled discussing his lawsuit. Trotter focused on a text conversation he had with Smith.

Trotter's comments about Smith are long but they are worth showing in their entirety.

"The biggest disappointment in this whole process for me has been the people who are journalists who speak on my case without actually reading the complaint, or without talking to me first about it," Trotter said on the podcast. "So Stephen A. Smith has the commissioner on his show, and he asks the commissioner about my contract being renewed and the commissioner says, ‘Oh, it was just a budget cut thing.’ So when that was all over, I texted (Smith). And I said, ‘Man, I saw the interview. I just wish you had called me first to get some background and it would have shown you that what the commissioner said was untrue.’

"He comes back and says to me, ‘That’s on you. We had been advertising the commissioner was coming on for a week and a half, and I also spoke to a mutual friend who gave me background on the case.’

"So I had texted him back, and I said − and you know, I’m trying to be cool, because I’m not into this Black man on Black man, you know, crime thing − and I said to him, I said, ‘A lot of assumptions there. But I also thought as journalists we were taught you go directly to the source and not to second-hand information.’"

At this point in the exchange, things got heated between Smith and Trotter. Trotter recounted that Smith started shouting in all caps in his texts.

"And now that set him off. I got all caps coming at me, I got exclamation points coming at me and all this other stuff," Trotter said. "And he’s telling me how this wasn’t about me, and ESPN is a partner with the NFL, and he didn’t have to ask Roger Goodell that question at all, and this, that, and the other. And so finally I said to him, ‘Well, you can have me on to give my side.’ I said, ‘Your move.’ And he said, again, the exclamation points, ‘That ain’t happening. This wasn’t about you. And I did you a courtesy by even getting the commissioner to comment on it.’

"So anyway at the end of it I just said, ‘A courtesy, huh?’ I said, ‘Man, I appreciate you.’ And I left it alone.

"And I got to thinking. I’m like, as journalists, are we simply seeking a comment, or are we seeking the truth? So don’t sit up here and tell me what a great journalist you are if all you are seeking is a comment, instead of the truth.

"You can disagree with me. You can tell me I’m an idiot for filing the lawsuit. And as you went on your podcast and said, ‘I should have known what was gonna happen.’ And I didn’t even see it, people were texting me about his podcast, where he says he reached out to two Black executives not at the NFL or ESPN and asked them, ‘What would they have done if someone like me had put them on the spot like that publicly?’ And they both said, ‘They would have got my a-- up out of there.’

More opinionJim Trotter alleges NFL racial discrimination. His claims are huge problem for the league.

"And what I wanted to say to him, ‘Do you even understand the law?’ Because if either of those individuals had done that to someone, they would be breaking the law. But you’re gonna go ahead and say I should know what could happen? There’s a difference between knowing what could happen and the consequences of those actions. So, to me, that’s the only disappointing thing in this whole process is that I would just ask journalists, if you’re gonna speak on this, I don’t mind you having an opinion − you can tell me I was foolish, whatever you want − all I ask is that you read the complaint, or that if you have questions, you call me. I don’t think that’s too much to ask."

What Trotter alleges against the NFL may not be true. Or, it could be accurate. In either case, it will be litigated in some form. But if what Trotter says the NFL did is true, well, what happened to him was illegal.

For Smith to allegedly just ignore that possibility is highly problematic.

Again, why is all of this important? Smith has a great deal of power, and if Trotter's words are accurate, Smith sided with one of the most powerful entities in the nation, in the NFL, and ignored the standing of an individual fighting that entity. And allegedly did so in an extremely aggressive and disrespectful manner. Trotter deserves far more than it seems Smith gave him.

In the end, Smith will find that none of these leagues or people care about him. None of the teams do. Neither does Jerry Jones. In five years Roger Goodell will be on a beach counting his millions and won't remember who Smith is. Maybe Smith already knows this and doesn't care.

And Trotter? He may lose his lawsuit against the NFL. Few people beat the league because it's a megacorporation. Often mean and cutthroat. It's Weyland from Alien. It wears entities down that sue it. But to many, no matter what happens, Trotter will always be viewed as a hero who attempted to make life better for journalists of color at the NFL Network.

Smith could learn a lot from Trotter.