Steve Kerr Criticizes Media Coverage of LaVar Ball

Steve Kerr has become fed up with the media coverage of LaVar Ball, and he let out his frustrations during a press conference on Monday.

ESPN, and many other sports news outlets, have been reporting on LaVar Ball’s every word for the past two years. Ball has been very critical of Lakers head coach, and former Warriors assistant, Luke Walton lately as Los Angeles has struggled mightily over the past month.

Mavericks head coach, and president of the NBA coaches association, Rick Carlisle defended his colleague and ripped ESPN specifically for their over-the-top coverage of LaVar Ball.

"“As president of the coaches association, I view the recent ESPN article as a disgrace, quite honestly,” said Carlisle on Sunday. “Luke Walton is a terrific, young coach who is bringing along a young team, and it’s a difficult task. If you don’t believe it, just ask me. We’re going through that now and went through that last year.”"

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had some similar comments regarding the coverage of LaVar Ball before Monday’s game against the Nuggets. Kerr always has extremely thoughtful comments regarding a variety of issues, and he did not hold anything back on Monday.

"“I was thinking about ESPN, and they laid off, I don’t know, 100 people,” Kerr said. “How many people did they lay off over the last year? Well over 100, many of whom were really talented journalists covering the NBA. So, this is not an ESPN judgment, it’s a societal thing more than anything. Where we’re going is we’re going away from covering the game, and we’re going toward just sensationalized news. It’s not even news, really. It’s just complete nonsense. But if you package that irrational nonsense with glitter and some ribbon, people are going to watch.”"

Kerr continued to explain his point, and he included quite the zinger at the end.

"“So, I talked to people in the media this year. I said, ‘Why do you guys have to cover that guy?’” continued Kerr. “And they say, ‘Well, we don’t want to, but our bosses tell us we have to because of the ratings, because of the readership.’ Somewhere, I guess in Lithuania, LaVar Ball is laughing. People are eating out of his hands for no apparent reason, other than that he’s become the Kardashian of the NBA or something.”"

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There could be a whole book about how media companies have sensationalized the news, but we don’t really have time for that here.

The simple answer is that these media companies are businesses, and their main goal is to make money. Whatever your opinion is on LaVar Ball and his antics, the consumers have told these media companies that he is an interesting topic by continuing to click on their articles recording his every word.

I think Kerr’s comments about the most recent situation are more accurate and measured than Carlisle’s for a few reasons.

First, he acknowledged that ESPN was not the only media outlet that has sensationalized LaVar Ball, and it’s more of a societal issue than an ESPN issue.

Secondly, Rick Carlisle also made some comments about how the media “should back up the coaches”, and Kerr did not echo those sentiments. It’s not the media’s job to praise the NBA’s coaches at every turn, and they don’t owe the coaches anything for giving them access to their team.

Finally, Steve Kerr’s comparison of LaVar Ball to a Kardashian was funnier than anything Carlisle said.

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This is a complicated issue, and Steve Kerr went to bat for his former assistant coach as you’d expect. While Kerr was definitely critical of Ball and the media coverage of his family, he did so in a thoughtful way, and he didn’t say anything that was out of line or inaccurate.

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