Rick Carlisle Urged Stan Van Gundy To Cooperate With ESPN Broadcast Friday
Stan Van Gundy told reporters Thursday that Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, the president of the NBA Coaches Association, reached out to the Pistons coach to ask that he cooperate with ESPN's broadcast team for Detroit's game against the Wizards Friday, according to Rod Beard of The Detroit News.
After ESPN published a story by Jeff Goodman where LaVar Ball criticized Lakers coach Luke Walton, Van Gundy told Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press he would stop providing ESPN with extra access when Pistons games are televised on the the network.
"I'm not meeting with their announcing crew before the game, I'm not doing the in-game interview," Van Gundy told Ellis. "I'm not going to participate in the thing."
According to Ellis, Van Gundy reached out to Carlisle, the Players Association and commissioner Adam Silver after the story initially ran Jan. 7, and threatened to not provide additional access for Friday's game.
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Carlisle also publicly criticized ESPN after the story came out, calling it a "disgrace."
Th Pistons host the Wizards on ESPN at 8 p.m. EST Friday.
