Brandon Jennings slandering Jayson Tatum is everything wrong with NBA coverage

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum can’t avoid the limelight. No matter how quiet he stays or how normal a life he lives (for an NBA superstar, that is), his name always manages to make headlines. And in almost every scenario, it’s never by his own accord. This time around, he has Brandon Jennings to thank.

During a recent appearance on Gil’s Arena, he called Tatum the softest Celtics superstar ever. Gilbert Arenas was not pleased with the statement. Tatum’s trainer, Drew Hanlen, weighed in on Twitter regarding the statement, and Jennings responded by saying that Tatum should win the MVP to prove him wrong.

This is everything that’s wrong with NBA coverage nowadays.

Brandon Jennings slandering Jayson Tatum proves how absurd NBA coverage is nowadays

Tatum eventually responded to Jennings’ comment in an Instagram caption, mocking the statement by writing it out with miscapitalized lettering. But that’s beside the point.

First and foremost, Jennings using the MVP award as the barometer for toughness and success should tell fans all they need to know about his priorities.

Tatum just led the Celtics to an NBA Championship, but that’s not good enough. No, Jennings wants the MVP award. So, what’s more important? Because if Tatum had prioritized individual stats to win the award and fallen short of a title, he would have been slandered in the media for that. So, how does that make any sense?

Regardless, that’s not even the worst of it. The sheer fact that this was a conversation being had by former NBA players whose podcast constantly goes viral on NBA Twitter is everything that’s wrong with the coverage of the sport.

Instead of breaking down the game, talking about Tatum’s skills or deficiencies on the court, or uplifting the league itself, they decided to talk about a completely subjective, useless conversation.

They aren’t even talking about if Tatum is tough enough to compete with upcoming teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder or Cleveland Cavaliers—still somewhat of a silly conversation, but at least it would be relevant.

No. Jennings simply decided to slander Tatum’s name in relation to other Celtics players despite the fact that he just won a championship for the organization.

It doesn’t make sense logistically. It doesn’t make sense from a timing perspective. It doesn’t make sense at all. It’s foolishness.

And perhaps it’s a problem with NBA fandom in general because this is the slop that they strive to listen to.

What a ridiculously useless conversation to be having.

Oh, and here’s this, too…