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ESPN’s coverage of the NBA looks a bit different this season after the network decided to part ways with Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy earlier this year. There were more than a few people who thought the NBA might have had a role in the latter’s dismissal, and now Adam Silver has chimed in to address that speculation.
Jeff Van Gundy spent more than a decade in the NBA as the head coach of the Knicks and the Rockets, and he wasted no time taking his talents to The Worldwide Leader in Sports after Houston kicked him to the curb in 2007.
He initially served as a guest analyst at ESPN before landing a full-time gig where he routinely served as a color commentator alongside Jackson and Mike Breen. However, he was one of the many notable names who was laid off when the company announced a wave of job cuts over the summer (although he quickly landed back on his feet by taking a job in the Celtics’ front office).
During his time at ESPN, Van Gundy was never shy about criticizing the refs and rarely declined to speak his mind when chiming in on matters related to the league. He was officially let go as a cost-cutting measure, but there were more than a few conspiracy theorists (including Chris “Mad Dog” Russo) who fueled rumors his dismissal was the result of interference from Adam Silver and Co.
Silver chatted with J.J. Redick during a recent installment of The Old Man and the Three podcast where the former player asked the commissioner how much of a say the league has when it comes to dictating the “ancillary” content its broadcasting partners air.
While Redick didn’t specifically ask about the personnel changes at ESPN, Silver nonetheless used the question as an opportunity to make it clear the NBA doesn’t meddle in that particular realm, saying, “Despite what was written even about some talent changes at ESPN, the league does not have a say there.”
Of course, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where Silver would come out and admit the NBA explicitly asked ESPN to can a vocal critic, but when you consider the network was pretty public about the budgetary constraints it found itself dealing with, the simplest explanation is probably the most likely one.