NBA Media Not In Great Space When It Comes To Storytelling, Brian Windhorst Says

November 9, 2024

ESPN insider Brian Windhorst has been covering the NBA for a long time and covering it very well. So when he has something to say about how the NBA is covered, it’s worth hearing.

Windhorst recently made a surprise appearance on Thanasis Antetokounmpo‘s podcast to discuss the state of not the game, but the state of how content about the game is decided on and distributed.

“NBA media right now, we’re not in a great place,” Windhorst said, via Awful Announcing. “Because I think we’re devaluing things … that help build the league up. Like one of the things [is] storytelling.

“Everything is too short right now. People are too focused on tweets, too focused on guys getting crossed-over, guys getting dunked on, guys getting embarrassed, social media posts. Not as much on storytelling, learning about players and learning their backgrounds, what I call chronicling the season.”

There are a lot of people over the age of 30 who would quickly agree with Windhorst. And he’s right — ESPN is the NBA’s biggest media rights partner. They should talk about more than just the Lakers. There are 29 other teams.

But it doesn’t appear that’s what the bosses want, as Windhiorst eluded.

“ESPN responds to what the audience says it wants because we can analyze the data so much better now,” he said. “And so if the audience says it wants debate about who the Lakers should be running their offense through or whether (LeBron James) should play back-to-backs or whatever, all of the stuff is a debate.

“That is what it’s become … but there isn’t a story where they tell a story about Dalton Knecht or Jarred Vanderbilt. They don’t tell that story, and (it’s) because the data says the clicks go on two people debating about whether the Lakers should trade Anthony Davis or something.”

It’s sort of sad, actually.

And as Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing wrote: “With viewership down early in the season and more prominent voices railing against the style of play and the approach of star players to the regular season, Windhorst is clearly not the only one feeling this way.”