{"id":577055,"date":"2026-03-31T21:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577055\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T21:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T21:01:08","slug":"walls-put-up-by-nba-led-to-worse-connection-with-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/577055\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Walls’ put up by NBA led to worse ‘connection’ with fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than any other sport, the NBA\u2019s popularity extends to fans\u2019 relationships with players. And as the historically popular outgoing generation of stars trickles out of the league, and the media debates TV ratings, competitive balance, and the \u201cface of the league,\u201d<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst offers a different perspective on why the league\u2019s connection to its fans has waned over time.<\/p>\n

Windhorst has become quite the media critic in recent years as his profile at the Worldwide Leader has risen. Today, Windhorst appears across ESPN\u2019s NBA and general studio programming, hosts his own hit podcast, and regularly publishes reported stories online.<\/p>\n

So he is by no means an exception to some of the trends he has railed against, from the lack of storytelling around the NBA<\/a> to the talent decisions by the league\u2019s new broadcast partners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in an appearance on\u00a0The Old Man & the Three<\/a> with Denver Nuggets forward Cam Johnson this week, Windhorst wove together several threads of his media criticism around the NBA to explain the breakdown he sees between the league and its fans.<\/p>\n

In Windhorst\u2019s mind, the restrictions on media access that have come as league revenue has risen and players have formed their own media brands are actively harming the league\u2019s popularity. These changes have not only led to fans having a vested interest in fewer players, but also have created a new generation of commentators and content creators around the league that have no relationship with the people they cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media and the players would be in the same space every day,\u201d Windhorst explained. \u201cAnd if you were angry at a media member, which happened to me, and you wanted to MF them, you could just MF them. But you had to do it face-to-face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously, Windhorst has described how modern NBA practice facilities and arenas were built to keep reporters separate from players<\/a>. He repeated the claim this week, arguing that while sensible from the team\u2019s side, this setup may mean younger content creators do not see value in reporting live from games. As a result, distrust has developed between some of these reporters, content creators, and people around the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I think because so much of the media is done from a distance where a lot of people don\u2019t even go to arenas, some of the leading people who cover the NBA don\u2019t go to arenas, they\u2019re not seeing the players, they\u2019re not seeing the coaches, it just breaks down the connection,\u201d Windhorst said. \u201cSo it\u2019s easier for it to be impersonal because you don\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people that do high-level analysis that are on social media or YouTube or whatever that literally get millions of views and don\u2019t step into an NBA arena the entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Another point Windhorst has previously made is that \u201cnew media,\u201d or content hosted by athletes, \u201clargely has failed<\/a>.\u201d The money is drying up for these productions, he said.<\/p>\n

Clearly, if the debate continues over the future of the league and what to do about its popularity, these shows and documentaries also did not replace the old vehicles for promoting the games.<\/p>\n

Windhorst added this week that there could be a stronger partnership between professional storytellers and athletes interested in sharing their stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy thing is create a better connection between the fans and the players by telling their stories,\u201d Windhorst said. \u201cAnd frankly, sometimes the players are good at telling their stories, and sometimes they\u2019re not. Because that\u2019s not what their profession is. But there are some people out there that are great storytellers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Windhorst was careful to note that the NBA has tried plenty of ideas, including producing two seasons of\u00a0Starting Five\u00a0on Netflix. And he added that, with fewer big media companies in the game and resources at a premium, he understands why networks or digital companies chase revenue drivers over riskier, more expensive projects.<\/p>\n

Rather than blaming one party in particular, Windhorst looked ahead and warned that the trend will continue unless someone budges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s partially because the players have put up walls, it\u2019s partially because the league has put up walls, it\u2019s partially because the media hasn\u2019t done a good job with its access, but I think we all would benefit from doing more of that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a hard thing to get going, because the players\u2019 salaries have exploded over the last 15 years, and it\u2019s hard to sell a player who has seen his salary explode be convinced that \u2018You need to give more for yourself.’\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than any other sport, the NBA\u2019s popularity extends to fans\u2019 relationships with players. And as the historically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,81786,590,85,283006],"class_list":{"0":"post-577055","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-brian-windhorst","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-the-old-man-and-the-three"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}