I think the NBA media has gotten ridiculous this year. Of course this stuff goes on, but with Lavar Ball, many IT stories all year long, The Rockets/Clips misreporting, and many other things, it's just this TMZ atmosphere being blown up larger than ever I think. I do think it sells to some people sadly, but I personally put an onus on media outlets to do quality work and say, not go to Lavar Ball for quotes all the time or publish anything he says as a top story.
Windhose blasting IT is clearly him working as a LeBron/Cavs org PR man, which is nothing new. To give him all the blame, coming off an injury when your defense was already unbelievably bad and you were starting KEVIN LOVE at Center is laughable. But just the transparency of it and him so clearly continuing his shlock is just tiring and speaks to how bad ESPN is now, for the most part.
It just reminds me of the atmosphere that ruined most NFL media as well for me. The sport is demphasized for flashy trumped up headlines and garbage stories of TMZ levels. No thanks. I will just continue to withdraw from it. There will always be a great writer who talks the game like Lowe out there, so that's good.