In today's game we often see NBA players and the writers having disagreements between each other. The writers often say that NBA players have more power and say that this is the player empowerment era, which it is. The story that never gets covered is how the writers around the league have too much power.
Many NBA writers have a lot of power that many people don't realize. Until the 1979-80 NBA season the MVP was picked by the players, during the 1980-81 season that award was picked by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The All-NBA teams are also picked by this panel of "experts." These votes are huge when it comes to these players paychecks.
The MVP award is a huge bonus in checks and the players legacy. With an MVP on their resume, a player can negotiate more money in sponsorships, like Nike, Jordan, or Adidas. After a player wins the MVP award they become a lot more marketable and are seen in more advertisements. The players legacy is also at stake for these votes. These MVP awards are often very debated about, especially with the GOAT debate. Michael Jordan has 5 MVP's, which helps add to the legacy of Jordan to help him become the greatest NBA player off all time.
All-NBA teams are fun for the fans to see if their favorite players made the cut, but for the athletes these teams could mean millions of dollars. Karl-Anthony Towns is an example of someone who has a lot of money on the line this year, if he is voted onto one of the teams he'll earn $30 million dollars. Another player who has a lot on the line is Kemba Walker, if he is voted on one of the teams he'll be eligible for a Super Max contract. The Super Max is worth $221 million, that would be life changing money for Kemba Walker and it would make sure his grandkids are set.
These writers are in control of millions of these players dollars and their legacies. This is just some of the power these writers have. If a writer doesn't like a player they could destroy their life and career.
When a group of writers doesn't like a certain player they tend to sway the public opinion of them. A great example would be Carmelo Anthony. Anthony is one of the greatest scorers of this generation and is arguably the greatest olympic basketball player of all time. Carmelo Anthony averaged 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds a game. He was cut after 10 games and no team would pick him up due to the fact that they would be ridiculed by the media. Carmelo Anthony has been ostracized by the league partly because of the media dragging his name through the mud. Anthony has went from one of the best players in the league and one of the greatest offensive players of our generation to him being portrayed as one of the most overrated players ever.
These writers can drag a player through the dirt and force them out of the league. Some players have tried to clap back at these reporters, like Damian Lillard. Lillard has went to twitter to break some of the news that has to do with the reporters. Lillard broke the news that reporter Chris Haynes was leaving ESPN for Yahoo to become a Senior NBA insider. Damian was getting sick of the reporters always being on him for anything he did, so he decided to answer back and break news about them.
There's some of the NBA media who have mastered social media and became larger than life figure in the basketball world. Adrian Wojnarowski (Woj) is someone who has mastered twitter and essentially became the 31st franchise. Woj has so much power around the league that what he says is considered true. Woj has became the biggest media member in the NBA and his power is so great that when he tweets anything, the NBA world listens. Some players even learn that they are traded through twitter, like Blake Griffin who learned he was traded to Detroit through twitter. NBA media member on twitter are getting so powerful that they are become their own franchises and breaking the news to players that they just have been traded.
NBA writers have more power thank players today. The best solution to solving this problem is to first have the All-NBA and MVP be decided by half players and half reporters votes. The players are the ones who have to play against these guys, while the reporters look at more of the analytic side of voting. This would begin to lessen the power of these reporters. The other solution is that these players start to use social media more to give their side of the issues that surrounds them, instead of letting the media run wild with the stories.
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