NBA Rookies Are Getting Upset Over Criticism They Read On Twitter And Reddit, ‘HoopsHype’ Reporter Notes
The NBA takes great lengths to make sure rookies have an easy adjustment to the rigors of the league and the pitfalls that can come with it, but now they may have a new problem to deal with — Reddit.
HoopsHype reporter Alex Kennedy reported that some player agents are noting that the league’s incoming players are becoming particularly sensitive to the criticisms they read online, namely on Twitter and Reddit. This generation of players has been on social media for all of their formative years, and now they are finding themselves the brunt of criticism as they step into the spotlight. Some of them are having a difficult time handling it, Kennedy reported.
Opinions come free of these formats, and can very often be harsh. One of the top posts on the r/NBA subreddit this week was about how Celtics rookie Robert Williams lost his wallet twice in one week. The posters didn’t show him any mercy.
“This dude needs a 24 hour chaperone,” one of the top posts read.
The fans over at Reddit’s r/NBA can be particularly fervent when it comes to their favorite teams and players — and even more so for their least favorite teams and players. Earlier this year, some of the subreddit’s sleuths pored over private flight logs to find that LeBron James was going straight from a vacation in the Bahamas to Los Angeles, arriving just in time for free agency to begin, as reported by the Inquisitr. It wasn’t clear if that was an early hint that LeBron was signing with the Lakers or if he was just returning to his offseason home in L.A., but the development didn’t make it past the Reddit detectives.
Some of the NBA players aren’t taking the online criticism lying down. Just months after he was caught using a burner account to argue with fans online, Golden State Warriors star and former NBA MVP Kevin Durant got into it with a teenager who called him out on Instagram. As CBS Sports noted, Durant responded to a fairly mild-mannered criticism about his inability to lift up his teammates by writing, “Bruh go sweep ya dorm room, u don’t know hoops. Stop tagging me in this trash.”
KD left the burner account at home this time. ?? pic.twitter.com/FuidXOwLoi
— theScore (@theScore) July 11, 2018
The NBA already offers some life skills guidance for rookies, including financial management. But for the generation of new NBA players raised on Reddit and Twitter, simply getting off the platforms to avoid the critics doesn’t seem to be an option.
