According to two members of the Oklahoma City Thunder, media members have more complaints about the landscape of the NBA than fans do. Or at the very least, media members are hammering the point home to impressionable fans.
Whether it be the number of three-point shots taken in games, conversations around the next “face of the NBA,” or the lack of enthusiasm about the NBA All-Star Game, national media members have been quick to raise concerns about the current product in the NBA.
During an appearance on The Young Man and The Three podcast with Tommy Alter, Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso sounded off about how the sport is being covered on a national level, detailing how they believe that national media members simply aren’t watching games as closely as they should, if at all.
“I think a lot of it is the national media,” said Williams. “They don’t be watching the games either, if I am being honest. They are what drives it, I think. Whatever they push out is what people are going to respond to. Obviously, what they push out is what the fans are going to think. So you take the foul thing with Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander). He honestly should go to the free-throw line more. He leads the NBA in drives, and we’re like the lowest free-throw shooting team in the NBA. I think there are like six or seven people ahead of him that shoot more free throws. But because the media doesn’t like certain ways he gets fouled, that gets pushed. Just watch the games.”
Caruso echoed Williams’ sentiments, outlining how changes to ESPN’s SportsCenter over the years show the direction that sports media is headed when it comes to coverage of the NBA.
“It’s become cool to not watch basketball,” said Caruso. “It’s all about entertainment value. The clip farming, the looking for highlights instead of the substance of the game. I was thinking about this the other day. ESPN was on, it was whatever… Pick a talk show at any time during the day. I was like, ‘Man, I miss SportsCenter when it was like the ticker on the side. Where it had each game coming up next and it was a good 7-8 minutes of highlights. Then a commercial, and it finished with the top ten (plays) at the top of the hour.’
“We’ve gone away from that. And now it’s like, what is the most entertaining? What is the eye-grabbing storyline from it? And unfortunately, to like some of the more common fanbase, that’s what is capturing their attention rather than really good basketball.”
“I think a lot of it is the national media, they don’t watch the games either if we’re being honest.” — Jalen Williams on the impact of the media on the current landscape of the NBA pic.twitter.com/6CSJvcbn9k
— TheYoungManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) April 5, 2025
What Williams and Caruso are saying certainly makes sense. Nationally televised games are naturally going to get the majority of attention when it comes to the vast majority of conversations around the NBA.
And when you have personalities like Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal on Inside the NBA constantly putting down the current NBA product during nationally televised games, it’s understandable that fans find themselves agreeing that the state of the modern-day NBA needs some changes.
Williams and Caruso are far from the only players around the NBA who seem to feel this way. Brooklyn Nets star Cam Johnson spoke on this matter earlier this week, taking issue with how narratives in sports media take away from the current NBA product.
As far as Williams and Caruso claiming that national media members aren’t watching games, that likely depends on which national media members in particular they are talking about.
For example, Shaquille O’Neal admitted as much when it comes to watching games of the Detroit Pistons, revealing that he “doesn’t watch Detroit”. This is despite the fact that the turnaround from the Pistons this season, from a bottom dweller in the Eastern Conference to becoming a playoff team, should truly be one of the biggest stories around the sport.
Perhaps some of the animosity from Williams and Caruso comes from how their team has been covered thus far this season.
The Thunder have received national recognition when it comes to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s claim to be named the 2024-25 NBA MVP. But considering the Thunder are having one of the best regular seasons in recent memory, there is an argument that they deserve even more national recognition as a team than they are getting.
Regardless, Williams and Caruso clearly believe that national media outlets are affecting the perception of the NBA in a rather negative way. And based on how they outlined their point, it is truly hard to disagree with their assessment.
