A lot has been said about how today’s NBA media love to spend more time criticizing the NBA’s product than promoting it. The reason? The more controversial and debatable their conversations are, the more views or clicks they generate, which is good for business.
According to former NBA All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas, this was not always the case, as press people during the 80s and 90s did not engage in negative talk about players or speak ill of them. Arenas cited Michael Jordan‘s performance in the Barcelona Olympics as an example.
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“There was no negativity in the early 80s, 90s. The game was glorified and pushed positive. They didn’t bash Magic/Bird/Kareem for losing in finals…. Imagine USA ’92 team today, and looking at Michael Jordan box scores are talked about today from how he performed. In ’92, nobody knows MJ was struggling in Olympics and shooting that bad against guys who were wearing AAU uniforms… We didn’t hear struggling,” wrote Arenas on “X.”
Jordan played golf, went to casinos and partied all night
It can be recalled that MJ shot a horrible 45.1 percent from the floor during the Dream Team‘s gold medal run, the second-worst on the team, behind only Christian Laettner at 45.0 percent.
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Jordan and Laettner were the only players on the original Dream Team to shoot below .500 from the floor. MJ also led Team USA in turnovers at 1.8 per outing.
Of course, it is well known that Jordan played golf almost every day during their stay in Barcelona, including days when the Dream Team had games. Aside from that, he often stayed out late, either at casinos to gamble or at clubs to party. But those extracurricular activities were not covered extensively by the media. Neither were MJ’s poor shooting games.
“They talked about it very differently than they do now,” Gil added. “The media now who’s telling you how great these players are, is the same media telling you how horrible these (today’s) players are. Because they love those players. They’re players that made them feel good.”
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The media today does not celebrate the game
This negativity in the media was also something NBA commissioner Adam Silver discussed last year, as basketball talking heads and analysts debated the league’s plummeting TV ratings.
“I respect the job the media does,” Silver said. “It’s not a suggestion that people shouldn’t ask tough questions, or be critical, or talk about things they don’t like about the game….But I think they don’t spend enough time talking about why people love this game.”
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“Recently, I was at a meeting with Mike Krzyzewski, former coach at Duke, and he condensed it with this headline. He said, ‘We should educate people about the game, and celebrate the game.’ Educate and celebrate. And I wish there was more of that,” he added.
A year has passed, and sadly, not much has changed. Charles Barkley recently mocked the NBA product, saying the fans who watched the Hornets vs. Wizards game at Spectrum Center on January 25, 2026, had nothing else to do.
However, there have been positive signs, as many have lauded Amazon’s studio crew, led by Dirk Nowitzki, Blake Griffin and Steve Nash, for talking real basketball, less drama and no pushing of narratives. Hopefully, the others will follow them, not the other way around.
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This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jan 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.