The Denver Nuggets are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history, but conversation around LeBron James’ retirement tease has overshadowed their success.
Charles Barkley was outraged Tuesday night during TNT’s Celtics-Heat coverage, saying the spotlight should have been on the Nuggets for their accomplishment.
“I was so mad [Tuesday] morning I actually turned the TV off,” Barkley said. “Because the Denver Nuggets, who have been the best team in the world all season, sweep, get to the finals for the first time [and coverage was on LeBron.]”
The Nuggets’ 113-111 win over the Lakers on Monday completed the four-game sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
In 47 NBA seasons, Denver team has never made it this far.
However, James’ postgame press conference comments became the main talking point in the media.
“We’ll see what happens going forward. I don’t know… I’ve got a lot to think about to be honest,” James said. “Just for me personally, going forward, the game of basketball, I’ve got a lot to think about.”
The comments were somewhat of a surprise given James has talked frequently about playing with his son, Bronny, who will be a freshman at USC next season.
“We all love LeBron, but he didn’t say he was retiring yet. When he does say it we’ll do all that stuff, but it should’ve been all about the Denver Nuggets,” Barkley said.
Fans took to Twitter to share their own opinion on the media coverage.
One fan, Pasha Bains, argued that the conversation should be based on what fans are interested in hearing about.
“Barkley is right that it shouldn’t have been about the Denver Nuggets but that’s not what is most interesting to the audience,” Bains wrote.
“You shouldn’t have to go on TV telling ppl what the discussion should be about. The discussion ends up being what ppl are most interested in discussing.”
Another fan, Mitchell Rossman, took a different approach, claiming NBA writers and analysts formed the conversation away from the Nuggets win.
“If the NBA & its writers / analysts actually talked about basketball in purpose to further the basketball discussion & have the narrative formed by basketball rather than playing into a cycle of forming the narrative, forcing it, & refusing to give it up, this wouldn’t be an issue,” Rossman wrote.
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