Patrick Beverley turns down an interview from ESPN's Malinda Adams because she doesn't subscribe to his podcast. Patrick Beverley turns down an interview from ESPN’s Malinda Adams because she doesn’t subscribe to his podcast. (Alex Golden on Twitter/X.)
ESPNNBAPodcastsBy Andrew Bucholtz on

We’ve seen plenty of discussion about athletes having their own media platforms, particularly podcasts. Sometimes, that’s led to them declining regular interviews with media to only talk on those platforms. But an interesting twist on this comes from Patrick Beverley of the Milwaukee Bucks, who apparently will do interviews…but only with media members who subscribe to his podcast.

After the Bucks’ series-ending loss to the Indiana Pacers Thursday in the NBA’s Eastern Conference quarterfinals, Beverley not only told ESPN producer Malinda Adams she couldn’t ask him questions, he asked her to leave the area around him. Why? Because she didn’t subscribe to his Barstool Sports-presented podcast.

Beverley drew significant criticism for that decision. Some of that came from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:

“Do you subscribe to my pod?” “Do I subscribe to your pod? I do not.” “You can’t interview me then. No disrespect.” “Okay, Jamal is here.” “You subscribe? Okay, cool.” …”Can you move that mic and get out of the circle for me please, ma’am? If you’re not subscribed to my pod? Thank you, I appreciate that.”

As Windhorst notes there, that’s far from the only controversial thing Beverley did Thursday. He also got into it with fans behind the Pacers’ bench. That included throwing a ball at them twice, and that prompted post-game criticism from Charles Barkley:

Beverley later took to Twitter/X to complain about Rob Perez’s presentation of that clip:

But the podcast thing is particularly interesting. CBS’ Jack Maloney noted that this wasn’t just specific to Adams or national media, but has been an ongoing thing with Beverley:

Players refusing to talk to certain media members is not new. And they’re entitled to do that, and can sometimes have a point with that. If a particular media member has treated a player poorly, there can be some logic to declining further interviews with them. Players also don’t have to talk at all; there are fines for not showing up at a media appearance, but showing up to say nothing is a valid strategy (one Marshawn Lynch made famous).

Even saying you’re reserving comment for your own platforms has been seen, as with Draymond Green. (That’s taken plenty of criticism of its own, though). But denying access to reporters just on the basis of “Do you subscribe to my pod?” is a curious choice, especially when that extends to not even allowing Adams to stand nearby and record his answers to another reporter. And Beverley’s decision to do that here has been widely blasted:

This is far from the first media controversy Beverley has gotten into. In December, he brought up Josh Giddey in controversial fashion on a Kevin Hart-led alternate game broadcast on ESPN2. In June 2022, he refused to answer a question from Max Kellerman in an appearance he agreed to make, leading to an unusual moment. And for all his comments about how he’s “not in line waiting” for a media role, he sure seems to be trying to land one. But his actions here aren’t going to help with that.

It’s also worth noting that an interview in this situation is not just about benefiting the media outlet. Interviews are a chance for players to express their own perspectives. And after a controversial moment like throwing the ball at fans, Beverley’s perspective seems important. (Indeed, he criticized Perez for somehow not including it.) But if he’s going to tell an ESPN employee they can’t get his perspective for that network’s viewers because they don’t subscribe to his podcast, that’s a choice.

This doesn’t have Beverley pulling a Kyrie Irving and refusing to show up for media availabilities, which was the previous notable situation that saw a NBA player fined over media conduct. But he is captured shoving the microphone here (at 0:15), and an AA source indicates he did that more than once. And his behavior towards Adams here does certainly seem to contradict some NBA media policies. And the league is reportedly now looking into this, as well as his in-game actions:

The Professional Basketball Writers Association (PBWA) also put out a statement on Beverley’s “unprofessional conduct”:

Adams did tweet later Friday that Beverley had apologized to her, and that she had accepted that:

While Beverley certainly choose who to talk to or not, doing so just by asking media members if they’re subscribers to his podcast is unusual. And the negative blowback Beverley’s taking for that doesn’t seem particularly worth it for the sake of a couple extra podcast subscribers.

(This post has been updated to note responses from the NBA, Beverley, and Adams, and to discuss the information AA received on Beverley’s behavior here.)

[Alex Golden on Twitter/X]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz