ESPN reporter defends Clippers coverage after widespread criticism

ESPN came under fire after the NBA dropped the hammer on the Clippers. Now one of the reporters behind the story that drew much of that criticism is defending the work.

Investigative reporter Don Van Natta Jr. told Puck’s John Ourand that ESPN’s Aug. 17 story accurately reflected the state of the NBA’s investigation at the time it was published.

“For this particular story, the most important test, in our view, is how our Aug. 17 story holds up against the findings ultimately released in the Wachtell report more than two weeks later,” Van Natta told Ourand, via Awful Announcing.

The ESPN story carried the headline, “Sources: NBA has no evidence Ballmer funneled money to Leonard via sponsors.”

Two weeks later, the NBA handed the Clippers one of the harshest penalties in league history for salary-cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. Los Angeles lost five future first-round picks and was fined $30 million, while owner Steve Ballmer was suspended for one year.

That led to plenty of criticism of ESPN’s earlier story, particularly its framing. Van Natta pushed back on another part of the reaction, too, saying ESPN wasn’t attempting to counter the reporting of Pablo Torre, whose work initially brought the Leonard situation to light.

“Our reporting was in no way a response to, or an assessment of, earlier reporting on this topic, by Pablo Torre or anyone else,” Van Natta said.

He added that Torre and his team were “rightfully commended” for raising the questions that ultimately led to the investigation.

So ESPN is standing by what it reported. The larger debate seems to be less about whether individual details were accurate and more about what readers reasonably took away from the way those details were presented.

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