By signing him to a multi-year contract in 2022, the suits at TNT Sports showed their willingness to tolerate — and tacitly endorse — Draymond Green’s unpredictable, violent behavior on the court.
Now that Adam Silver has suspended the Warriors enforcer indefinitely for hitting Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the head Tuesday night, the NBA commissioner has provided evidence he finally — and officially — considers Green a liability.
Green’s latest act of mayhem should provide the impetus for TNT Sports executives to cut ties with him. Just dump him.
Green, who is one of the few active players to sign a network contract, has made appearances on “Inside the NBA” since he signed with TNT Sports (a division of Warner Bros. Discovery). Industry sources said Green, who is in the first season of a four-year extension with Golden State, was expected to join TNT (if it’s still an NBA rights holder) on a full-time basis when he retires.
TNT should now put that speculation to rest. If there are no contractual “morals” clauses allowing them to void the deal, the suits should just eat Green’s TV contract. Moving forward, viewers first vision when seeing Green on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” will be him sucker-punching another player. Or kicking LeBron James in the groin.
Green is the current symbol of NBA chaos. This is not an image Silver wants his league to project. Especially during a time when the NBA is in TV negotiations and looking for $10 billion per year in a new rights deal.
Video replay after replay of Green punching Nurkic, won’t be used as part of Silver’s sales pitch to the networks. The severity of Green’s indefinite suspension might just be about keeping him off the court so he won’t adversely impact current or future NBA television contract negotiations and the level of revenue the NBA is seeking.
If TNT Sports is playing a money game, rather than the image card, when deciding how it will deal with Green, network executives must consider whether advertisers will balk at buying commercial time on “Inside the NBA” because they don’t want their products associated with him. There also must be a calculation whether an anti-Green backlash will cause viewers to bail, big-time, on “Inside the NBA,” sending the ratings into the toilet.
When Green signed with TNT in 2022, there was much speculation about him being the successor to Charles Barkley, widely recognized as the most entertaining studio analyst/philosopher in TV sports. At the time, Barkley was publicly considering retirement, but never set a firm sayonara date.
If TNT Sports operatives think that highly of Green as an analyst/personality, they might be willing to duck, weather the storm, and stand by him. Considering the history of the sports TV industry, networks have not been shy about hiring controversial sports personalities, like Alex Rodriguez and Michael Irvin, for prominent gigs.
Part of their success comes from a theory that “negative sells,” as long as it’s backed by performance, along with an on-camera presence that’s not offensive.
“Everybody likes Draymond,” Barkley said on a recent episode of CNN’s King Charles. “But at some point, if you keep doing stupid stuff, we can’t keep saying ‘he’s a good dude.’”
DOGGING ON THE DEVITOS
Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo likes raining on parades. He has a history of it.
Dog was at it again Tuesday, in full SXM Scrooge mode while discussing the captivating (not to him) story of Giants out-of-nowhere QB Tommy DeVito.
“One more look at the parents [Lexy, Tom Sr.] and the agent [Sean Stellato] and I’m going to vomit,” Russo said.
Rather harsh, right?
Still, you’ve got to hand it to “the agent,” Stellato who saw the door slightly opened and ran right through it. He basically introduced himself, and DeVito, to the Free World.
NANTZ WITH THE NEWS
There were a lot of on-field twists and turns happening during CBS coverage of Bills-Chiefs. Yet credit Jim Nantz for making sure two off-field stories involving Buffalo got discussed.
In the second quarter, Nantz detailed a report claiming that in a 2019 motivational talk, Bills coach Sean McDermott cited the 9/11 terrorist attacks as an example of teamwork.
And in the third quarter, Nantz reported Bills linebacker Von Miller was issued an arrest warrant for allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend.
These types of stories, which shed light on the NFL’s twisted side, don’t always make it into network game telecasts.
TOO BLUE
Former Giants linebacker and current radio pre and postgame analyst Jonathan Casillas likes delivering home cooked analysis.
Color his plates blue.
He went too far Monday after the Giants beat Green Bay 24-22. Casillas, sarcastically, referred to “that other team in town that’s a dumpster fire.” There was no need for the gratuitous shot.
Fortunately, host John Schmeelk, bailed his partner out. He reminded Casillas the Jets “that other team,” won their last game too.
AROUND THE DIAL
When all the ego and agendas are stripped from the situation, the flap over Amazon Al Michaels not doing a playoff tilt for NBC Sports, where he was granted emeritus status, is about ONE football game. It has no impact on the Free World. That said, after providing consistent quality for so many years, and continuing to do so, there is no way NBC should have treated Al Exigente like he is a ham-and-egger. Michaels can be prickly but he has earned respect. … Kadarius Toney messed up against the Bills last week but CBS cams over did it with the agony-of-defeat closeups of the Chiefs wideout. … ESPN abruptly bailed out of Tuesday’s Pat McAfee interview with Aaron Rodgers to go to commercial. Not cool. … Whoever convinced FAN’s Sal Licata that worshipping Mets boss “Steve (King) Cohen” is good radio should reconsider their strategy. … With so much in-game focus on NFL officials, it hard not to miss the absence of Fox’s Mike Pereira. Prior to the season the rules analyst said he was facing back surgery and would be out indefinitely. Wonder if his colleague, Dean Blandino, got more dough out of the network for doing the job of two voices. … For those who care, locals both go at 1 p.m. on Sunday. … Jim Nantz/Tony Romo calling Jets-Dolphins on CBS while Kenny Albert/Jonathan Vilma work Giants-Saints on Fox. … Viewed a picture on X of Michael Kay kissing a dolphin. Didn’t realize the Yankees voice is also a modern-day Jacques Cousteau.
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DUDE OF THE WEEK: BILL BELICHICK
For his upbeat appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The coach displayed a reverence for Navy (his father, Steve, was an assistant coach there from 1956 to ’89) prior to the annual battle of the service academies. He surprised viewers by donning a 1962 Navy helmet during the picks segment.
DWEEB OF THE WEEK: SKIP BAYLESS
For carrying a grudge. He used the Dodgers signing of Shohei Ohtani to once again put down LeBron James, saying: “You’re now the second biggest star in Hollywood.” Also, Bayless, FS1’s veteran Gasbag, forgot baseball’s Big O played for the Los Angeles Angels since 2018.
DOUBLE TALK
What Robert Saleh said: “I thought he [Zach Wilson] was outstanding today.”
What Robert Saleh meant to say: “With Zach, it’s next week I’m worried about.”
