LeBron James has been at war of words with the NBA media over the last few weeks after the start of the face of the league debate. The four-time NBA champion argued that no one would want to be the face of the league after his retirement because “all the people that cover our game and talk about our game on a day-to-day basis s*** on everybody.”
James’ comments have sparked a chain of reactions from players and analysts and even apparently led to the heated altercation between James and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.
Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green has offered his take on the raging debate in the NBA, highlighting the contrast between the media of Michael Jordan’s era and the current times.
Draymond Green Comes to LeBron James Defense in War With NBA Media
A fan asked Green during a recent episode of his ‘The Draymond Green Show’ about how the media in the 1980s and 1990s used to protect the players, including league faces such as MJ. In contrast, the opposite of that scenario was witnessed in the current era, or at least in the last few weeks.
“I think media as a whole was just different back then, like, people weren’t getting TV slots because they could talk the most trash about somebody or figure out how they could shit on somebody else’s name today and how much controversy they can keep up like that just wasn’t what was being sold back then,” Green started with a seemingly direct jab at Smith.
“Media was building the game up. They were telling stories, they were learning how to market the game, and they were doing it from a space of ‘we’re trying to grow this product. How do you best do that?” he continued.
The Warriors legend pointed out that as the sport has grown tremendously recently, the media often shares the hottest takes to attract attention without regard for fact-checking.
“Today, the game is growing outrageously, and it’s just not the same. Like, the media gets attention for the hottest take they can make. No one checks facts anymore. It’s just the whole media climbing. Social media, right? A lot of times when you get like, guys who came up during that time, or were of that time, and then they start saying stuff, I’m like, they were, in a sense, protected.”
“But also protected by the reach of the league. The reach of the league wasn’t as big as it is today. And so, you know, I think most media just take the easy way out, and that is, what is the hottest take I can make? And not, you know…a lot of media don’t know the game no more, you know, I’m saying the song,” Green concluded.
Green’s remarks follow a heated altercation between James and Smith during the Lakers’ game against the New York Knicks on March 6. The altercation stemmed from the analyst’s repeated criticism of his eldest son, Bronny James.
Wow: LeBron James actually left the team huddle before the fourth quarter to confront Stephen A. Smith 😳
(via @LADEig, @TheFlightMike, @legendz_nba) pic.twitter.com/USi9s0V43y
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 7, 2025
While Smith has clarified that he hasn’t been critical of Bronny, he recently revealed that Green was one of the athletes who stopped talking to him “primarily because of this, I suppose.”