LeBron James Criticizes NBA Finals Coverage Of Thunder-Pacers

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has never been afraid to voice his opinion and he’s been consistent about his dissatisfaction with how basketball is covered by the media.

The social media age has made it easy to forego in-depth analysis in exchange for hot takes and reactionary content. While the NBA remains as popular as ever, the discourse about the game itself leaves much to be desired.

James and his co-host Steve Nash have tried to steer basketball conversations back to Xs and Os via their podcast “Mind the Game,” and the two do a wonderful job of breaking down concepts and ideas.

On the most recent episode of the popular podcast, James lamented the 2025 NBA Finals coverage:

“Yeah, absolutely and we all have a story. And there’s a lot of stories that can be told on the OKC roster and the Pacers roster. Do the guys that preach our game want to…do they want to do the homework and take the time out to actually tell these stories? And it doesn’t seem that way. It’s just what can I say without truth or without knowledge or this is what I wanna say and there’s no accountability behind it. I think that now goes to our fans. We have to protect our players and protect our product. The one thing that I know for sure when it comes to players…before it was like I couldn’t be seen or I wouldn’t be heard if I was in a small market. I had to be in L.A., I had to be in New York, I had to be in Chicago, I had to be in certain markets in order to be seen, in order to be heard. Well, that’s not the case now. The case now with social media, with every single day around the clock coverage of our game, good or bad, you could perform anywhere. You could perform anywhere and be great anywhere. So the whole notion of I don’t wanna play in a small market or you shouldn’t be in a small market, that is gone. That is flushed down the toilet because obviously we look at now we have the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder representing the NBA Finals. That narrative is gone. We need to teach the game. We need to talk about the game, but also have a better understanding of storytelling. I think that just helps our product and it helps our fans relate to the players that they…outside the market of OKC or outside the market of Indiana maybe they don’t know a lot about these guys.”

James also added that he doesn’t think the NBA Finals being between two small-market teams should matter less and it speaks to how deep the talent pool in the NBA is right now. The game has never had so many good players and instead the media tends to focus on narrative-driven stories that tear them down versus celebrating them.

It’s a shame that the Pacers-Thunder coverage hasn’t been 100 percent about what happens on the floor, but the NBA has to be pleased with the quality of the games and the fan interest thus far.

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