Bill Simmons denied a Deadspin report from last week that he was responsible for Magic Johnson's departure from ESPN's 'NBA Countdown'.

"Those unnamed "sources" are liars. Someone planted a fake story to try to make me look bad, and there's a 99.3 percent chance it came from someone in Bristol (which presents its own set of concerns). I was upset; I can't lie," wrote Simmons in an email.

Simmons believes Countdown can become a better show and be different from ESPN's other studio programs.  competing against the highly acclaimed Inside the NBA on TNT, which features Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson.

"I love the fact that people think we can't have as consistently good of a show as "Inside the NBA" -- that it's not humanly possible. It motivates me. I am also dumb enough to think we can be as consistently good as "Inside the NBA," so that helps, too."