Unlike some NBA stars, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is very present in the media and isn’t afraid to mix it up with critics online. After a big home win in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, Haliburton dismissed “talking heads” who have criticized him during the postseason when he has a low-scoring game. That didn’t sit well with FS1’s Nick Wright.
Reacting to Haliburton’s comments as part of his weekly “Media Ombudsman” segment on First Things First, Wright pushed back on the idea that, as Haliburton said, talking heads don’t “really know” anything about basketball.
“I do have this question,” Wright said. “Who can talk about basketball? Because the answer can’t be the retired players. Have you heard these podcasts? You might think some of our takes are out of line, I don’t know if you guys have sampled some of the retired players’ podcasts and what’s happening in those streets.”
“The gate-keeping of who is and isn’t allowed to talk about hoop when … the biggest experts talking about hoop seem to have some of the wildest opinions out there, I think is unfair.”
Nick Wright responds to Tyrese Haliburton (and ex-NBA stars in media): pic.twitter.com/SzOJWK3I03
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Without naming names, Wright added that even active NBA players with podcasts can veer into fantasy land with their commentary as well.
“Bad basketball takes know no country,” Wright said. “They can come from any source. And good basketball takes know no country, either.”
Wright then focused on Haliburton specifically. His knock on NBA media came after a question about whether critics are right that he needs to be a more aggressive scorer. Wright believes that criticism was “fair and accurate and proven-out in Game 3.”
“They did need him to be a little more aggressive,” Wright said. “He did need to take more ownership of the offense. And it did give his team a better chance to win.”
At this point, the conversation about NBA media never ends. It was at the center of a messy beef between Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James earlier this year and is a constant subject of Kevin Durant’s tweets.
The problem Wright highlighted is that part of that conversation aims to shut down certain voices. Even when those voices aren’t inaccurate any more often than the former and current players who do “really know” about basketball.
“The gate-keeping of who is and isn’t allowed to talk about hoop when … the biggest experts talking about hoop seem to have some of the wildest opinions out there, I think is unfair,” he said.
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.