Getty LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
After some tough ratings were released for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Jason Whitlock had a simple message for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James on Thursday: “Can’t be the GOAT if you kill the game.”
Game 1 of the Finals between the Lakers and Miami Heat brought in 7.41 million viewers to ABC, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That’s reportedly the lowest viewership for the Finals since at least 1994.
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Much like his Outkick colleague Clay Travis — who’s rallying cry when it comes to the NBA is “get woke, go broke” — Whitlock blamed the down ratings on the league and James taking a stance on social issues.
Whitlock takes issue with the anthem kneeling, “silly slogans” on jerseys and more. He expanded on his feelings in a column:
LeBron James is destroying my love for the game. James, Nike and China have dragged the NBA into a racial propaganda war with the United States as the opposition.
I feel like I’m being forced to choose between love of country and love of basketball.
That’s not a hard choice for me. I choose America. I can survive without the NBA. The NBA apparently can’t survive without pleasing communist-run China.
While Whitlock has his reasons, there are other facts that might be pulling the ratings down. Premier among those is the matchup, which features the underdog, superstar-less Miami Heat against James’ Lakers. Game 1 becoming a massive blowout didn’t help the NBA’s cause, and key Miami injuries could make the seven-game series thoroughly unexciting.
Clay Travis: LeBron James is Destroying Basketball
GettyLeBron James, center, Lakers
Travis has targeted James multiple times since the NBA restart and had comments in the same vein as Whitlock in August, going after James’ legacy.
“LeBron’s legacy is going to be that he destroyed the NBA in the United States of America. The ratings for the NBA are collapsing in LeBron James’s NBA,” Travis said in a rant on Twitter. “Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did everything they could to build up the NBA into a national force. Michael Jordan then took the NBA to heights you have never seen before. Since Michael Jordan retired, the NBA has been on a consistent downslope and LeBron James is destroying it even further. The young players have taken his lead and decided to be ‘woke’ with all these vapid, not supported by factual date, comments. This is an unmitigated disaster.”
“LeBron’s legacy is going to be that he destroyed the NBA in the United States of America. The ratings for the NBA are collapsing in LeBron James’s NBA.” – @ClayTravis
James has been a force for positive change in many ways off the basketball court. Most recently, he helped create “More Than a Vote,” a nonprofit organization devoted to supporting Black voters.
PLEASE VOTE!!!!!🗳 @morethanavote
He also opened the “I Promise School,” a public school in his native Akron, Ohio, for at-risk students.
LeBron James Focused on Championship Chase
Despite blowing out the Heat in Game 1, the Lakers are not done with their championship trek yet. Now in his 10th NBA Finals, James is well aware of that. After the win, he brought up the 2011 Finals against the Mavericks back when he was a member of the Heat. After winning Game 1, Dallas surged to the title, winning the series 4-2.
“We’ve got so much more work to do,” James said. “The job is not done, and we’re not satisfied with winning one game. It’s that simple.”
“That s— burns me to this day.”
LeBron recalls Game 2 of the 2011 Finals where the Heat blew a late lead to Dirk’s Mavs.
Up 1-0, the Lakers are -1400 to win the title, meaning it would take a $1400 to win $100. The Lakers are 9.5-point favorites for Game 2.
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