After Tuesday night’s win over the Houston Rockets, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd laid into the media, and specifically ESPN insider Tim MacMahon, for their “negative” coverage of the game. After going viral for his expletive-laced tirade, LeBron James came to his defense on X, responding to the moment with an interesting message.
“For J to curse you know he wasn’t happy at all! I don’t think I ever heard him curse. I mean from competing vs him, teaming up with him, and playing for him. Never! He was HOT and quite frankly RIGHT!! Love J Kidd!”
For J to curse you know he wasn't happy at all! I don't think I ever heard him curse. I mean from competing vs him, teamming up with him and playing for him. Never! He was HOT and quite frankly RIGHT!! Love J Kidd! https://t.co/4PGTniEPlH
— LeBron James (@KingJames) November 29, 2023
Kidd was able to keep things respectful despite being heated at the question. Basically, he laid into Tim and the media body as a whole for rushing to dismiss the Mavericks so early on in their process. After the Kyrie Irving trade last season, MacMahon was on the front lines of the situation in Dallas and was there to spread the narratives as they struggled to close out games. Now that the Mavs are doing well, Kidd wants the media to focus more on the positive aspects of their performance.
NBA People Speaking Out On The State Of Sports Media
This obviously wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing for Jason. After hearing the media yap for months about the struggles of Luka and Kyrie, he’s tired of hearing them look for any reason to doubt their success. Of course, Kidd isn’t the only one to call out the media in this way. Even NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently condemned the state of basketball coverage, telling JJ Redick that games often get reduced to ‘this team wanted it more.’ The truth is that people are getting fed up with the dramatics of the NBA season. Instead, people want to hear a more in-depth analysis of the game.
For LeBron James, who has dealt with the media for 20+ years, he knows more than anyone how wild things can get. Over the course of his career, he’s had good and bad moments with reporters but here, he’s glad to show his support for a legend who wants to see some big changes to the landscape.
Dallas Mavericks Are Proving Everyone Wrong
No matter how you feel about the Mavericks this season, they are performing well above expectations through the first 17 games. At 11-6, the Mavs sit at 4th in the West behind top-tier contenders like the Timberwolves, Nuggets, and Phoenix Suns. And while it remains to be seen if this level of play will hold throughout the season, the Mavericks certainly look a lot better than they did a season ago when Kyrie and Luka were still figuring out how to play together.
This season, nobody is ready to call the Mavericks favorites in the West but they are clearly in the realm of title contention based on what we’ve seen in the opening few weeks. The key for Mavericks now is keeping up this pace and not giving the media a reason to focus on the negative aspects of their team. It’ll be easier said than done, but if they keep playing well, then it will be hard for anybody to deny their status as one of the best teams in the league.
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