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When the NBA showed player introductions at the NBA Finals for the first time in over a decade earlier this week, prolific social media personality “World Wide Wob” quipped that “NBA Twitter” might as well have a Board of Governors vote.
Showing the introductions was just the latest adjustment the NBA and ESPN/ABC made on the fly, after digitally superimposing long-lost “Finals” logos on the court beginning in Game 2 after a bevy of fans and media—including Front Office Sports—lamented the lack of pageantry on display in the sport’s biggest games. The logos had also been missing from the court for over a decade, and there has been a general celebration among the faces of “NBA Twitter/X” that, at least in this case, bullying worked.
“It does not take a genius to realize the most controversial trending Twitter topics about players were discussed on the broadcast, and the most viral complaints regarding the game presentation’s lack of pageantry were remedied the very next game,” World Wide Wob, a host for SiriusXM’s NBA channel and Bleacher Report whose real name is Rob Perez, told FOS. “I certainly commend the NBA for keeping the feedback line open and acting on what their fans desire, but also worry that they can be so easily influenced by a small, loud faction. The Board of Governors vote was obviously an exaggeration, but maybe an ambassador to Secaucus is not out of the question to streamline communication between the viewers and the business.”
Prior to Game 3, NBA commissioner Adam Silver appeared on ESPN and acknowledged he’d seen the chatter about the missing Finals logos on the court, saying that the decals were slippery for players but recognizing in old replays that they provided an extra aura.
Frank Isola, a longtime reporter around the league who is also a SiriusXM NBA host, felt that the return of player introductions was a triumph of social media.
“It’s kind of odd that they waited until Game 5 to do it, right?” Isola told FOS. “People like the player introductions. It gives the games a big feel. ”
Isola has been on-site for a lot of the Finals games in recent years, and hadn’t noticed the intros had been missing for more than 10 years. He compared the ritual to the Final Four, when announcing the players one by one makes the event feel special.
“This was the one time where the pressure from social media has been good,” Isola mused. “Because it certainly influences how these teams and the league are covered. Everyone reacts to social media—I think the Knicks reacted to social media when they fired [Tom] Thibodeau.”
Isola referenced a viral video of former NBC analyst and N.Y. Post columnist Peter Vecsey grilling Karl Malone after several poor performances during the 1997 Finals. “Karl, you said after the first two losses that that was the low point of your professional career. Has this taken it down another rung?” Vecsey asked the then-Jazz great. In a follow-up question, Vecsey asserted that Malone didn’t play up to his MVP standards and asked him if he felt he let his team or the city down.
“Reporters have backed off a little bit. They certainly don’t go all in like they used to,” Isola said. That [Vecsey video] was before social media. If that would’ve happened today, you would’ve had players, probably led by LeBron, condemning the reporter for asking really tough questions like that. And then all the ex-athletes in the media would be offended by the questions.”
Isola brought the observation back around to the idea of the NBA adapting on the fly to social media pressure, saying, “Social media has too much of an impact—but in this case it was good.”
