CHARLES Barkley called out ESPN for its coverage of Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Barkley trashed the network for talking about the Los Angeles Lakers’ reported interest in UConn basketball coach Dan Hurley over the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks championship confrontation.
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On the eve of Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, ESPN’s Adriano Wojnarowski reported that the Lakers are pursuing Hurley for their head coaching vacancy.
ESPN announcer and analyst JJ Redick was named as the best option to lead the Lakers.
During coverage of the NBA Finals, ESPN discussed Hurley News which had to do with Redick, who works at the network.
On Friday, Barkley appeared on Don’t @ Me by OutKick with Dan Dakich and shared his disgust with ESPN discussing Hurley for some time during the NBA Finals.
Read more about Charles Barkley
“I was so mad at ESPN yesterday,” Barkley said.
“I love Danny Hurley, this has nothing to do with Danny Hurley, and good luck to him if he goes to the Lakers.
“But I was so upset, with Game 1 of the Finals and Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals coming up, that they spent the first hour talking about ‘What if Danny Hurley goes to the Lakers?’
“I was so upset yesterday I had to turn off my TV… They’re just that stupid.”
Inside the NBA star Barkley added that ESPN was covering an “irrelevant” Lakers team while saying the network’s programming staff “have to be the stupidest, stupidest people in the world.”
He continued his rant, saying, “If he goes, we’ll talk about it, but just go in there and blow air for an hour and then say, ‘Oh, by the way, we have the first game of the finals. arriving tonight.
“I was like, who the hell is running their schedule there?
“You have these network games and you spend the whole time talking about ‘What if Danny Hurley goes to the Lakers?’
Barkley praised back-to-back title-winning coach Hurley while adding that any move for the Lakers would need LeBron James’ “approval.”
ESPN reported that Hurley met with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka in Southern California on Friday.
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ESPN also received complaints from fans about the network’s halftime show in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
It was just a few minutes of analysis of the first half of the game such as introductions, endings and commercials got in the way.
Inside the future of the NBA?
The operation of the NBA on TNT Sports is in great doubt due to the NBA’s broadcast agreements.
The Emmy-winning sports show is a fan favorite thanks to the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley.
But TNT’s broadcast deal with the NBA ends after next season and NBC appears poised to take over those rights in a $2.6 billion deal.
If TNT loses its NBA package, it will raise serious questions about the popular Inside the NBA.
One solution could be to recreate the show on another network, which would snatch the rights from the NBA.
The Celtics ended up defeating the Mavericks 107-87 in Game 1.
Boston star Jaylen Brown led the way with 22 points, followed by Kristaps Porzingis and his 20 points.
Game 2 will be on Sunday at 8:30 pm ET.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
