It’s actually crazy how much better NBC and Prime already is than ESPN

Because it’sa “hot takes” and conflict world. That’s what gets clicks, unfortunately

Last night was one of the classic NBA regular season games of all time with two top teams playing hard and both trying to win. NBA legends diving to the floor to get a loose ball. Last second plays and shots that were totally clutch that will be replayed for years. Basically everything that we want from the NBA.

And the entire shtick of pregame, halftime, and postgame was on how much Charles Barkley hates and roots against the Lakers.

This is just not entertaining and is bizarre that it continues. He should have maybe made a joke or two, but then go into a deep dive of what impressed him in the game.

Other sports just don’t have to deal with this negativity. It’s really strange

Bc there is a market for guys like that mainly bitter old heads😂💀

NBA fans nearly went into open revolt when Inside the NBA was facing cancelation. Now you want to throw them off the air? Lol

I don’t think they hate basketball, I think they hate their jobs. ESPN has been really antisocial in its general behavior toward its employees for years and years - just brutal layoff after brutal layoff, tons of lies and manipulations and senior people really being shitty to the people around them. Stephen A. Smith is a toxic person to be around too and he sets a strong tone and gets rid of anyone who serves as some other center of attention. It’s him, not the inside guys, who define the culture, and his definition is very pro-wrestlery - the show is a work, the audience are marks, the games don’t matter and he’d rather scroll Twitter than watch them, the only thing that matters is how many of the fans are having a strong reaction to you as the commentator at any given time.

The culture of working there seems to be in a really shitty spot relative to how it used to be. When you’re asking people to constantly give commentary off the dome, if their prevailing feeling is “this sucks and you suck” then their commentary is going to veer toward being negative.

The platforms reward negativity, but negativity ruins teams and ruins organizational culture. ESPN used to be a fun place, and it really isn’t anymore.

Well the way that NBA Reddit and Twitter talk about basketball, it seems like they’re just giving the people what they want.

For exams, look how Bam’s game is being talked about by not only the hot take artists on tv, but all the contrarians among us in places like this sub. It seems like almost none of us actually like the game

I’m not saying that former players shouldn’t be broadcasters, some are great, but there is a sense of overconfidence these guys have that stops them from covering the games. If their names weren’t Barkley or Shaq, they’d have been thrown off the air a long, long time ago. Their shticks were funny once upon a time but they’re tired to us and they’re tired to them.

Have you seen basketball fans? All they do is hate. No other sport fans hate for the sake of hating the way nba fans do

They barely watch the games, they are employed just to give off their soundbites and hot takes. They focus on the views obtained from this negative engagement that they are hurting the product they are supposed to advertise.

I’d rather listen to someone like Kenny Beecham who actually does the research and feels like he is passionate about the sport he’s talking about.

Inside the NBA is great for what it is.  I’ve watched the NBA for almost 35 years and this is the best the league has ever been even if they criticize it.  The 90s was horrible to watch game to game and the talent wasn’t near what it is today, but they built better narratives and rivalries back then. 

Doris Burke is obnoxious af.

its actually so crazy tbh

NFL coverage is so fucking bad. I don’t know why you would want endless glazing of mediocre teams and games.

I hate it too but the Inside the NBA crew is merely a reflection of most NBA fans today. Everyone loves to hate. Open the comment section of any LeBron post and it’s 100% hate, even from Lakers fans. Bam’s 83 points and the recent 70+ point game performances all garnered hate.

Saying espn is biased against the lakers is certainly a first

Clickbait artists bring in views and engagement.

Bitter … as they see today’s money being made.

The Stern dick suck will never end will it? Holy hell.

I said the same thing the other day. The INSIDE THE NBA crew are a bunch of hoes. Chuck and Shaq don’t watch the NBA product. Kenny tries to give good analysis. Ernie the gawd

ESPN is pandering to their audience. They only care about viewership and marketability.

Old heads watch ESPN and want to hear that their generation was the best.

The same for any talk show or news broadcasting company.

It is just a matter of opinions, for example you say it is a truly awesome era and I disagree completely, there are many issues..

Seems like Legler goes out of his way to be positive. Jefferson was trying to goad him into talking shit a couple times yesterday but he didn’t take the bait.

It’s because major media operators like ESPN and FS1 have decided to lean into Internet/digital trends instead of focusing on actual basketball analysis. And the internet, overwhelmingly, enjoys hating on the NBA

I mean they don’t even want you tuning in which is clear to anyone after being forced to listen to PJ on the announce team. Like what the actual fuck the man sounds like he hasn’t cleared his throat since 1905.

I’ve been a fan of basketball for 40 years and I hate watching the NBA now.

With that being said, maybe my opinion would be different if the people who are paid to watch the NBA would at least try to sell it to me a little bit better

Negativity is more engaging. It gets the people going

Howard beck is the absolute worst. I swear that guy can’t talk about basketball without bitching about how much he hates his job. Fuckin spare us and quit then! The worst!

Totally agreed. I’ll say that for the NFL, guys talk about how the league is “soft” now, how the calls affect games in ridiculous ways,etc. but they still have plenty of praise for current players and are excited about the sport. The NBA media and fans are either “all good” or “all bad” like, we can admit there are problems with the sport and still like it, but nobody really wants to do that.

Spot on OP. The football media teams are all about real analysis and celebrating the players/game. The NBA media teams are all about the past, complaints, and basically no real actual analysis. The contrast as a fan of both is just extreme!!

Barkley spent 20 years being told to talk about the Lakers and now he’s had it and doesn’t care.

You may see some baseball commentators say this here and there but for the most part you never see them actually tear down actual players. Remember Shaq telling Jokic to his face “hey congrats but just so you know I voted Shai for MVP”, you never see that in other sports. Why only in Basketball?

NFL fans actually watch their teams play and are generally more informed about their team, if not the league as a whole, despite many more names to remember. 

NBA fans watch highlights and shitpost.

This is such a cliche. I don’t think they actually hate the game. They compliment plenty of things. Chuck just hates the Lakers.

Nobody watches the regular season, wayyyyy too many games and half the league is tanking. Regular season should be cut to 40 games and it’d become immensely more popular

Because saying what everyone thinks is boring. Wemby is a great defensive player is boring as fuck. The Lakers are a flawed team that can’t win anything important is something that gets people talking and linking.

Mad Dog is shtick.. His going back to players before he was born, is for clicks. How else would anybody under 50 know he is, what he was

Was great on WFAN w/ Francesa, before clicks, turned into a clown

Nepotism

It’s mostly just inside the nba at the point. Amazon and NBC has shown us that you can actually have analysts that’s like the product and actually discuss it.

This was another reason why the nba moved away from Warner bros but everyone got so emotional about the inside the nba that espn brought them back on.

Sure they can give you clicks but it’s such a yesteryear feeling when Chuck and them are still talking so negative about a product that they clearly aren’t watching.

“Hot takes” - people are more interested in listening to negative commentaries or hot takes rather than positive ones…

Because if you are just saying what others are also saying, its becoming boring, so they tend to create some hot takes to make people listen to them..

Have you watched basketball lately? There is a lot of borderline unwatchable nonsense happening in every game, from poor refereeing and the constant foul baiting to teams tanking and just chucking up threes the whole game.

This is what the fans want.

The TNT crew was the so called gold standard for years, but they are getting crapped on daily here. Do they do anything different now than they always have, or is it just opinions/viewpoints of them have changed? Are they “more negative” on players now than they used to be?

I mean it seems like NBA fans themselves hate watching basketball as well

Go look at the NFL and you’ll see former players and coaches say nothing but good things about the game.

I’m assuming that you don’t actually watch much NFL content. It’s the exact same, you just don’t care as much/pay as much attention.

They don’t hate basketball.

Some of their thoughts/opinions/takes are outdated, but that’s a generational thing.

Yeh the inside crew is bad for basketball. All parasites including the people who watch them. Luckily they will be off the air soon.

I’ll save all of you who don’t understand some time. You enjoy inside the nba crew because you are a POS and find hating enjoyable.

This gen is too damn sensitive, and I say that as someone part of this gen. Gonna ignore SAS because he’s a shadow of his former self and lives purely on rage bait now

Chuck doesn’t believe Lakers are contenders and doesn’t want people saying they are after finally getting a win against a good (not great) team in ages. Hell, the fans have been saying for months they aren’t contenders and now it’s bad to say it? Chuck called the Lakers losing, they won, laugh at him for being wrong and move on like a normal person with a healthy social life. Just know he’s prob right about the contender thing though 

Shaq was right. Jamal had an atrocious game and the Lakers barely squeaked out a win in OT with all of the big 3 playing. Nothing crazy about saying Phil or Spo (the only 2 coaches he could’ve been talking about) wouldn’t be happy from a contender standpoint.

This is what happens when people who grow up thinking good enough = greatness gets told it isn’t. Y’all love quoting “job’s not finished” so someone can give you a pat on the back for having an internet mamba mentality, but get mad when the same mentality comes from an actual former teammate of Kobe

I think part of it comes down to cultural framing and audience expectations. The NFL, being predominantly white, tends to cultivate a “polite, wholesome” media environment—think safe, positive narratives, a kind of quasi-Christian moral cheerfulness. The NBA, by contrast, has a younger, more urban, and more African American–dominated audience and player base, which brings in a different set of cultural dynamics. That includes a greater tolerance for blunt critique, sarcasm, and—even sometimes—what outsiders might perceive as “hater” energy.

It’s not about actual racial animus from the hosts, but more about a cultural lens: in spaces where Black culture is central, you see a mix of playful competitiveness, skepticism toward authority, and performative toughness that can read as negativity to outsiders. So when NBA hosts are critical or snarky, it often reflects the cultural codes of the league and its audience rather than a conscious desire to “hate on” basketball.

You should listen to the old heads … The sport is dying (in America)

NOBODY watches … Nobody

They don’t shit on the NFL because it’s still entertaining and even though there has been some changes … It’s still the same sport …. And what has changed (the softness and protecting the QB) I have heard several complaints

The NBA has become boring and unrecognizable from the 90s … It’s almost a different sport

Who made the most 3s tonight?

Bam just shot 22 3s & 43 free throws

It sucks …