Have an opinion about an NBA superstar? Just post it on X or Instagram and you might even get a response from the player himself. That’s how easy social media has made things these days. While it provides a great medium for the fans to interact with their favorite stars and vice versa, it also gives the haters a platform to openly criticize the athletes without facing any consequences. Hoping to put an end to this rising problem, NBA legend Rashad McCants had a bold idea for commissioner Adam Silver which could put Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s global businesses under major threat.

As most social media platforms give the users almost complete freedom to say what they want, negative or positive, McCants advised Silver to build a more controlled environment, “The NBA, they should create their own social media networks within the NBA.com aspect where the actual players can be on there engaging with the fans instead of in that open network or social media, Instagram, Twitter, all those things because it becomes convoluted and personal when you can’t really filter it out.”

Therefore, unlike these websites, Rashad believes the NBA’s platform would have the power to kick those people out who are likely spreading a hateful narrative toward an athlete. As a result, the controlled platform would help “create an NBA community where there ain’t no room for that bulls**t.”

McCants said on Gil’s Arena pod. Moreover, another legend Kenyon Martin claimed that most fans on the internet are filled with love and appreciation, “But you have those few people that think they finna set the narrative with us.” Maybe, Rashad’s idea could help solve this problem for the NBA, but it would also take a major audience away from Musk and Zuckerberg’s user base.

Gilbert Arenas is not too thrilled about Rashad’s idea

Although Arenas understood the sentiment behind what McCants was trying to convey, he was not a fan of the idea, “I like the unfiltered open air because there’s so many different personalities out there (in the NBA).” Yes, a controlled social media platform will help filter out the fans who are only there to spread false narratives. However, it could also have major downsides as the league would be able to control what the athletes can and cannot say to the public. Sure enough, it could hurt the superstars who love to voice their opinions and respond to criticism like Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid.

And Arenas believes in that scenario, Embiid could instantly “become a bad guy” as Adam Silver might prefer every athlete to follow how Stephen Curry and LeBron James handle themselves in front of the world. Moreover, it will also limit the NBA’s audience as only the fans who are aware of the game will join the platform and it might fail to attract new eyeballs to the sport. How do you think the NBA should tackle the social media dilemma?

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Asia Avinger