NBA Writer Marc Stein Blasts Woj, ESPN as 'Comedy Central'

DALLAS - Marc Stein just showed NBA fans how the ESPN sausage is made - with a skillful butcher job on the credit-ignoring and credit-stealing habits of "The Worldwide Leader.''

Stein spent 15 years at ESPN before the network turned to hiring Adrian Wojnarowski, using him to continue to break stories ... and to play loose with the facts and the truths when others break stories.

"Comedy Central'' is how Stein terms this style of journalism.

A personal note here matters to me, and I know to Dallas Mavericks fans, who often rely on the DFW-based Stein for stories from the inside of this franchise and the rest of the NBA: He has, from his perch at the Dallas Morning News, then at ESPN, then at the New York Times and now via his subscriber-based Substack work here - unfailingly cited and credited DallasBasketball.com when we are the first to breaking news and informative angles.

Why would Stein credit (and link to) his competition, even if we're "friendly competition''?

Because "credit'' is a reporter's stock in trade. And because it's the ethical thing to do.

It's a lost art, and I can tell you from personal experience, whether it's Adam Schefter on the NFL or the gang covering the NBA: At ESPN, it's no art at all. (Schefter's NFL trick is to fail to acknowledge a piece of breaking news on the Dallas Cowboys that is reported by a DFW outlet on, say, a Tuesday, and then "re-reporting'' it in a breathless tone on the all-important Sunday morning.)

Stein (too-kindly) calls it "amusing'' that his info on Quin Snyder's uncertain future in Utah was never acknowledged until Woj and ESPN claimed the story for themselves. And regarding another scoop, he makes it clear that this isn't just his personal ax to grind, noting that The Athletic was all over the story that would have Tim Connelly move from Denver's front office to run the Timberwolves. ...and that "ESPN's response, not surprisingly, was to ignore the story completely for a few days until Wojnarowski could post a report with a new development in the negotiations that ultimately landed Connelly in Minneapolis.''

Stein adds: "ESPN does this all the time, of course ...''

"Of course'' is a biting phrase. And it's true: Veteran journalists, my colleagues, have simply come to understand that ESPN is unlikely to treat a story as "news'' unless and until ESPN can claim it as its own.

As a matter "of course.''

Writes Stein: "This is what the ESPN news desk allows all the time these days, more frequently with Shams Charania's reports (in The Athletic) than anyone else's, by simply ignoring newsworthy stories in circulation because ESPN didn't report them first. It's ... to the readers' detriment.

"It's laughable,'' Stein writes, "that Bristol Inc. has largely pretended (a) story didn't exist for so long ...''

"Laughable?” Again, Stein is being too kind. If you believe a "lie of omission'' is still a lie, ESPN's news desk is powered by a certain dishonesty. And it's really not funny at all.

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