When Bill Simmons learned on Friday morning that his nearly 15-year-old relationship with ESPN was over, he responded with something uncharacteristic: silence.

He said nothing to his 3.7 million followers on Twitter. He did not pick up the phone or answer requests for comment. His agent and publicist followed his sounds of silence.

Simmons’s decision not to respond to the announcement by John Skipper, the president of ESPN, that his contract was not being renewed was surprising. He had built an empire on having his voice heard, often quite loudly, in a variety of roles: columnist, podcaster, editor in chief of the website Grantland, television analyst, and one of the creators of the “30 for 30” documentary series.

Simmons seemed to have been blindsided by the timing of ESPN’s decision, which came more than four months before his contract is to expire, at the end of September. An ESPN executive, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Skipper had told Simmons’s agent, James Dixon, that a decision had been made to end the relationship and that an announcement was coming. But Skipper did not call Simmons before going public, the ESPN executive said.