The NBA’s on-court product is the best it’s ever been. Not only is this the most skilled era of basketball, but players are playing smarter and harder than ever before.
This may seem like a rich declaration from a mid-20s journalist who is still wet behind the ears. But don’t take my word for it. Here is what a general manager had to say to Zach Lowe after an epic Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers.
Zach Lowe on what one NBA lead decision maker texted him during the finals https://t.co/cbEVVeTKgk pic.twitter.com/OX189NX7qA
— FLOOR and CEILING (Wilko) (@wilkomcv) June 15, 2025
While the author of this statement is unknown, we know it’s coming from someone with years of basketball experience. After all, you don’t get to be a lead decision-maker on your first day after college. Needless to say, many hold this opinion about the sport being the best it’s ever been.
The NBA Is Peaking And ESPN Doesn’t Care
You’d think ESPN, the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports, would want to capitalize on a league peaking right before our very eyes. Unfortunately, the network has opted to go in a different direction, consistently choosing to avoid what is happening on the basketball court and instead fixating on trivial narratives.
For instance, instead of providing in-depth analysis on the morning of the aforementioned Game 4, “First Take” — one of ESPN’s most popular weekday morning shows — decided to talk about something as arbitrary as Luka Doncic’s leadership skills. Mind you, Doncic hasn’t played an NBA game in a month and a half.
Game 4 of the NBA Finals is tonight lol pic.twitter.com/TKL5vWqPhJ
— Jason Gallagher (@jga41agher) June 13, 2025
ESPN’s NBA coverage hit an all-time low during its halftime show in Game 5. Bob Myers — the former architect of the Golden State Warriors’ dynasty, who now serves as one of the few on-air personalities ESPN employs actually trying to talk about basketball — was giving some invaluable insight on Tyrese Haliburton’s calf injury and the dangers of trying to play through something like this. Remember, he was in the building when Kevin Durant tried to soldier through a calf injury during the 2019 NBA Finals, only to tear his Achilles and miss all of the following season.
“That injury is nothing to mess around with,” Myers cautioned viewers during the halftime show. “That injury [calf tightness] may seem simple, but the next thing is a calf strain. [Then, it becomes] a calf tear. So, anyone who has played basketball knows that it is a hard thing to play through.”
But rather than build upon Myers’ thoughtful perspective on the matter, his co-stars, namely Kendrick Perkins and Stephen A. Smith, decided to to criticize Haliburton for an underwhelming first half.
“Sit him down,” Perkins exclaimed. “I don’t want to hear the excuses. If you’re on the floor, you need to produce. This is the NBA Finals. This is Game 5 and, to be honest, even before the calf injury, [Haliburton] looked scared. He looked scared to death.”
Afterward, Smith felt it wise to follow up Perkins’ comments by mentioning “the bottom line is Haliburton has looked awful,” despite just being informed of the seriousness of the All-NBA guard’s injury.
Myers gave Perkins and Smith a great opportunity to discuss Haliburton’s situation in a fair and honest way. Maybe, they could’ve even hypothesized how the Pacers would look to make up for Haliburton’s potential absence/limited minutes in the second half. Instead, they chose to use the moment as an opportunity to attack Haliburton.
Not only is taking such a direction here unjust, given the situation is largely out of the player’s hand, but it is also missing the fact Haliburton has done nothing but put together wonderful performance after wonderful performance to get the Pacers to this point.
This segment is a microcosm of the song and dance that has become the national anthem of ESPN’s NBA coverage over the years. ESPN employs smart people like Myers, the kind of folks who love and appreciate the game of basketball. But their voices are often drowned out by the hot take artists who care more about character assassination than educating their audience.
As you’ll recall, Smith was the same guy who once had his “First Take” co-host, Max Kellerman, removed from the show for trying to be too analytical with his arguments.
The worst part about all of this is ESPN has proven capable of providing higher-level analysis for other sports, particularly the NFL.
At what point did the media go away from this type of analysis for basketball.
I genuinely don’t recall the last time I saw a breakdown of an offensive set in the NBA like this. Literally all narratives pic.twitter.com/qrTejQdu8W
— Jake (@JakeAndBall) October 27, 2022
Why ESPN chooses to discuss the NFL in such a detailed manner is a different conversation for a different article. The main point is ESPN has the platform to change the way the casual fan thinks about the NBA. But instead of using its stage for good, the network consistently uses it to perpetuate fairytales about today’s game being “soft” or “devoid of any defense.”
This decision is poisoning the way people are viewing the game — a game being played at the highest level we’ve ever seen.
