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Brian Windhorst Responds to LeBron James's Critique of Media Coverage

It's all about finding a balance.

Kyle Koster

Brian Windhorst on the state of NBA media.
Brian Windhorst on the state of NBA media. / First Take
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LeBron James said a lot of things during his hourlong interview with Pat McAfee on Wednesday, including that displeasure with the state of NBA coverage was a motivating factor in him starting the Mind The Game podcast. Brian Windhorst, who was deemed "weird" at one point by James on a show airing on his very network, had an opportunity to respond on First Take to the allegation that it's all drama and not enough X's and O's. This has long been a lament for fans and observers and plenty of other people with a platform but when LeBron James says it, it merits a rebuttal.

"I think there are times that the media is out of balance and I encourage NBA players to hold the media accountable when they can as long as they're okay being held accountable by the media," Windhorst said. "I think at times our big challenge is to find that balance. Let's not have 125 threes a game, but let's not ban the three-pointer. Let's have a balance. When people talk about the game of basketball, they want to talk about the drama, they want to talk about the X's and O's but I'm telling you if you do a full show that's all X's and O's, that's not going to be any good either."

"People like the drama," Windhorst added. "People like the rivalries and people like looking at why Luka Doncic has trouble defending Tyrese Haliburton in an iso situation. I think there's room for all of it. And there's room to hold each other accountable but the finger-pointing, I don't think that benefits anyone."

All of this seems fair. But spoiler alert: this will not be solved. Think of all the things standing in the way of rational, fair two-way accountability. First, the media is not a monolith and even if 98% of pundits operate in good faith, there will still be a reward structure of the 2% who want to rabble rouse. Then there are the players who say they're comfortable being criticized and then do podcast car washes complaining about the criticism. Most importantly, at this point, each side can just point to a "narrative" and no one ever asks them to show their work. So yes, it is nice to think everyone's going to aim at this balance Windhorst speaks of. Then you remember he said this on First Take.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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