With the Playoffs almost coming to an end, many important things are going on in fans’ minds. Will the Nuggets get crushed by the 22YO Anthony Edwards? Will Dallas keep proliferating and ultimately make it to the Finals? But ESPN doesn’t seem to be too concerned with all the crushing matters around the NBA. They’re rather more concerned with the Los Angeles Lakers. That’s their topic for most of their segments this past week, despite the fact that the Lakers were swept away in the initial half of the playoffs.

The media conglomerate focuses their attention on how LeBron James is trying to hurt his legacy or who wins when it comes to comparing the LA side with the Clippers. Everything seems to be revolving around the “hot sellers”, raking in huge revenues. But fans have had enough of it. Fans want more. NBA writer Anthony F. Irwin is among such fans. Despite his love for the Lakers, he too is tired of the constant coverage the Lakers keep getting on ESPN, with no major substance to the same.

He voiced his opinions on X, writing, “This is such garbage, man. Adam Silver needs to demand more of his TV partner. ESPN is actively detrimental to the NBA.”

Of course, this is pretty detrimental coming from a traditional major sports platform like ESPN. Their constant focus is on LeBron James, Bronny James, and the Lakers, rather than focusing on how Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards are ripping apart the reigning champions – Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, or how wonderfully well Luka Doncic and his team are performing, or how New York is coming out to be a sensational team this season. It can be a bit appalling for a religious fan to not get coverage and more insights on these pressing matters.

Irwin’s call to action also seems to resonate with other NBA fans, as they passionately commented below his post. “We’re in the midst of the playoffs and this is what they’re wasting time on,” wrote one fan, highlighting the absurdity of the coverage. Some feel that this is rather disrespectful to the young talent who are pouring their hearts out to win this year’s championship. With so many angles to explore, their focus on just Bron and LA isn’t sitting well with anyone.

Another fan doubled down, writing, “If this was August, I’d get it. What are they thinking?”  It is true. It is not August. It is May. Instead of focusing their attention on the current games, they’re doubling down and lowering the standards of NBA media and indirectly Adam Silver’s league. This probably explains why the league is looking ahead to other broadcasters to showcase NBA media in a new light soon, with their new potential deals to sell NBA Media rights to Amazon Prime or the likes.

And this isn’t the first time this has happened. This same story, the same time, happened last year too.

ESPN’s backlash over its NBA content is age-old

When you thought ESPN reached new heights this year, don’t forget what happened last year too. During the NBA playoffs last year, ESPN was facing the same turbulent times, with constant criticism coming in from fans on the kind of coverage they were doing at the time.

Fans kept focusing on ESPN, just trying to “generate” viewership through what was considered “trendy” by them, rather than focusing on true and in-depth journalistic angles at the time. This was around the Western Conference Finals in 2023 when the Nuggets defeated the Lakers, clinching Denver’s first-ever NBA Finals seat. But what was ESPN focusing on? Everything else rather than this historic moment by the Nuggets. ESPN tweeted a picture of Darvin Ham (then-Lakers coach) with a clipboard in hand, instead of focusing on the Denver side and their achievements.

Everyone was appalled by the coverage, saying that it was “sad”. Even JJ Redick shared the same sentiment. His statements were pretty critical, but were the sheer truth. “The fact that people are now being like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize Nikola Jokić was good.’ Let’s put him on TV more! Let’s talk about him more!”

But no matter how much is expressed over the criticism of ESPN and its popular show, First Take, from a revenue-generating point of view, this worked for them and is probably still working for them. With the same baseless content, they managed to hit high ratings on TV, with fans still not liking the content they kept producing to this day.