Sports personality Nick Wright seems to be responding to JJ Redick's criticism about the state of modern sports media.
On a recent episode of First Take, Redick expressed frutration about the fact that people would rather listen to him call out Doc Rivers than listen to him give a structured basketball critique. According to Redick, fans no longer want to be educated on the game, but would rather focus on the drama off the court.
"I can do a video on my podcast where I break down the last nine games the Pelicans have used Zion Williamson as the primary ballhandler...54,000 views on YouTube," Redick said. "But I wanna call out a coach yesterday. Oh, that gets tens of millions of engagements. That's the ecosystem we live in. So do fans actually want to be educated or not?"
Wright seems to have clocked Redick's comments and hopped on X, formerly Twitter, to share his thoughts.
"I totally understand folks who aren't into televised sports discussion/debate. It's not for everyone!" Wright tweeted. "I will *never* understand someone who is incredibly wealthy, opts into working in the space, and then simply uses the platform to complain about how useless/dumb the space is."
The sports commentator compared perspectives like Redick's to that of a disgruntled Uno player.
"As I told @SherwoodStrauss, if I'm hosting an Uno party & invite you, and you eagerly show up, and then spend the whole party explaining how incredibly stupid you think Uno is, how it's a waste of everyone's time, and how we should all be playing chess, you're the problem!" he added.
In Wright's opinion, modern sports media is in an exciting place, especially given the variety of platforms available. According to him, there's no limit on the type of coverage people can create.
"I'd be a little embarrassed if, for example, @NekiasNBA invited me on to talk deep Xs & Os & I just yelled at him 'This is boring! Let's rank players,'" Wright added. "To know exactly what you signed up for, take the check, then whine about how beneath you it is is wild to me."
Redick has been stirring the pot lately with his sports critiques—his most recent involving Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers. Rivers is having a tough time coaching the Bucks and blamed it on his players in one of his postgame interviews.
According to Redick, Rivers is "making excuses" for his team's lack of success and is not taking accountability for his role in the team's performance.
"I've seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses," Redick said. "We get it. Taking over a team in the middle of the season is hard. Just like getting traded in the middle of the season is hard for a player. But it's always an excuse. It's always throwing your team under the bus."
