Amin Elhassan, a former ESPN employee and current member of The Dan Le Batard Show, recently called out Adrian Wojnarowski for lacking a rapport with current NBA stars and “putting a foot on” the careers of up-and-coming Black journalists.
Elhassan’s criticisms of Wojnarowski, an NBA Insider and podcast host with ESPN, came to light on a July 6 episode of the former ESPN’s employee’s show.
While discussing Rachel Nichols’ removal as a sideline reporter for the NBA Finals, Elhassan referenced a quote from Wojnarowski where he labeled Nichols as a “bad teammate,” resulting in a heated response from Elhassan.
“This guy is going to call someone a bad teammate?” Elhassan asked. “For real? Do we want to talk about the Black careers that he put a foot on because he was threatened by them? Do we want to talk about the news breakers, with an ‘s,’ of diverse backgrounds who have rapports with players that Adrian doesn’t have that he saw as threatening?”
The comments from Elhassan extended beyond Wojnarowkski’s alleged stifling of careers from journalists of diverse backgrounds, going on to suggest that Wojnarowski struggles to communicate with current NBA players.
“He can’t talk to LeBron,” Elhassan said. “He can’t talk to Chris Paul or Damian Lillard. … He doesn’t have that rapport with them. So what he does is he steps on them. And beyond that particular angle, he steps on a lot of people over there.”
Wojnarowski has yet to respond to Elhassan’s recent comments.
