Earlier this week, LeBron James was found to have broken Covid protocol by attending a party for a new tequila brand he is endorsing with other celebrities in attendance, including Drake and Michael B. Jordan. It has been a requirement this year that if Covid protocol has been broken, the player will receive some form of punishment in the form of being benched, fined or suspended. However, the NBA decided that LeBron is too good for discipline, so they decided to penalize him whatsoever, even though every other player that has broken protocol has received punishment. This is a terrible look for the league. They are admitting that stars get to do whatever they want and do not have to follow the rules that the rest of the players do. This has nothing to do with the nature of the event, it is about holding all players to the same standards.
Adam Silver’s actions have repeatedly shown he is willing to bend rules for ratings and will allow the superstars to do whatever they want as long as his ratings benefit. He is, in my opinion, the most overrated commissioner in sports. He is basically making it a player-run league. He has encouraged players teaming up through allowing teams two supermax contracts, and allows these teams to get even better without giving up valuable assets through the buyout market rules after the trade deadline. The superteam era has made it so we know the finals matchup before the regular season, and the league has already been going downhill for me because of this.
Giving LeBron an exception because it is the playoffs and they do not want to hurt ratings is the latest example of allowing stars to do whatever they want. They allowed LeBron to play against the Warriors after partying in a game with questionable referee integrity, and are allowing him to play with no punishment against Phoenix. LeBron himself and Adam Silver both seem to think the rules do not apply to LeBron, because Adam Silver only cares about the Lakers getting to the finals regardless of if they get there with integrity. Overall, a very disappointing non action by the NBA in a series of questionable rules and decisions the league has made recently.
What are your thoughts on this situation?
I totally agree Xander and I think it is a joke that the nba is ignoring this issue-Jaydon
Could not agree more. The league is all about TV ratings instead of integrity. The insane run the asylum for sure.