Sekou Smith, award-winning NBA reporter and analyst, dies at 48 By Gillian R. Brassil New York Times,Updated January 29, 2021, 6:31 p.m. Email to a Friend Sekou Smith covered professional basketball for more than two decades. He died of COVID-19 complications on Jan. 26TURNER SPORTS/NYT For much of his journalism career, you would never see Sekou Smith in a sport coat. Not at the NBA games he covered, not in the newsroom. âWearing a tie? No, never happened. Wearing a suit? Oh, you can forget about it,â said Arthur Triche, who used to work in public relations for the Atlanta Hawks and regarded Mr. Smith as his best friend.