Blake Griffin is the latest former NBA athlete to join the media, signing on with Amazon Prime Video for its studio crew starting this fall.
While Griffin was a somewhat surprising add for Amazon given that he laid low in recent years since retiring from the NBA, he has strong ideas about what he wants to bring to the industry.
In a recent appearance on the 7PM in Brooklyn podcast with Carmelo Anthony, Griffin explained how he hopes to borrow from NFL commentary and balance out the tone of Inside the NBA and old-guard NBA media when he starts at Amazon.
“I think there’s the biggest disconnect maybe ever between casual NBA fans and NBA players,” Griffin said.
Griffin said the best NFL game analysts provide detailed insights on what it’s like to be a top athlete in the sport, while NBA media often is on one far end of the spectrum — either goofing around or being critical.
“That’s what I love about watching football, watching Tony Romo, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, you’re really getting insight into how hard it is and what these guys are thinking and all the decisions they have to make,” Griffin said. “I think that’s what’s missing from basketball a little bit.”
While Griffin tipped his hat to Inside the NBA, he appeared to join the chorus of voices who are frustrated by the show’s tone.
“The TNT show with Shaq, Chuck, those guys, it’s probably one of the best sports shows of all time. To me, they’re just talking s***, there’s not a lot of analysis,” Griffin said. “It’s great, I love it, but what I’m excited to do is, I’m pretty fresh out. The game changes, there’s always a new wrinkle that comes into the game every single year … bringing analysis that’s current is what I’m excited about.”
Throughout the NBA season, critics have highlighted sagging viewership for the league while searching for answers. Griffin believes one area he can provide perspective from the modern era is on “load management,” a resting practice among NBA teams that he said often actually comes from teams.
Griffin believes he, along with new Amazon teammates Taylor Rooks and Dirk Nowitzki, can be informative and smart while also entertaining hoops fans tuning in.
The streamer’s NBA package will launch in October after it joined the league’s broadcasting partners for the first time last year as part of an 11-year, nearly $8 billion deal split across Disney, NBC and Amazon platforms.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.