FanPost

ESPN GUILTY OF HARASSAMENT?



ESPN GUILTY OF HARASSAMENT?

Damian Lillard expressed, soon after the Portland Trailblazers were defeated by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2021 National Basketball Association playoffs, dissatisfaction with Trailblazer management about the makeup of the team.

Soon afterward, it was reported by TrueHoop that Lillard was about to request a trade. Little was reported and little, apparently, is known, about what Lillard may have actually said to Trailblazer management. Yet, even after a denial by Lillard, ESPN continued to discuss the benefits of Portland trading Lillard—for Lillard. ESPN’s harping on Lillard’s apparent impending defection was made all the more newsworthy as another player-ownership controversy raged, the Philadelphia-Simmons debacle.

Listening to the discussions about Lillard’s future in Portland it became clear that ESPN pundits and reporters were in engaging in pure speculation, and even wish fulfillment. These discussions were in sync with the pending August beginning of free agency, which produced questions about tampering outside of the Lillard trade speculation and the Ben Simmons situation.

ESPN’s continual advocacy of a Lillard trade from Portland amounts to conduct approaching, if not actually meeting the standard, of harassment which is, according to the THELAW.com dictionary (https://dictionary.thelaw.com/harassment/) "[r]epetitive annoying, irritating conduct towards another designed to torment the victim" … with the " … goal … to create unrest in the target of such conduct."

Whether by design, or by effect, ESPN’s conduct has created chaos surrounding the future of the Portland Trailblazer team make-up. Reporting what a player has said or done is one thing, but to continually discuss a topic in a way that disparages the team that is contractually tied to a player essentially creates the conditions that one is claiming to be only reporting.

Fans pay for the entertainment the National Basketball Association, its players, owners, and partners, including network and cable corporations, provide. Fans would hope, as they root for their favorite team and player, even if a player leaves a team, that whatever happens in the NBA is not done through manipulation but instead is the result of fair dealing.