All The Most Ridiculous Moments And Bad Jokes From NBA Media Day

Though the season doesn’t officially start for a few more weeks, the NBA was back in business on Monday as teams around the league held their annual media day festivities in anticipation of the start of training camp. It was an opportunity to introduce new faces who’d been acquired during the off-season and answer some burning questions heading in to the 2017-2018 campaign.

And with everything that happened over the weekend regarding Donald Trump and his criticism of the NFL and his spat with the Warriors over their prospective White House visit, it was a chance to discuss more serious matters about equality and first amendment rights.

Yet there was also plenty of room for some sorely-needed levity. Let’s start with the Boston Celtics, who decided to introduce their two biggest offseason acquisitions – Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward – by tweeting out their phone numbers and inviting fans to hit them up.

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/912332453402087424

https://twitter.com/celtics/status/912334807744557056

And that wasn’t the end of the Kyrie news, not by a long shot. As it turns out, that whole flat-Earth thing was nothing more than one big troll job, according to Irving.

Then, of course, came the corny jokes, starting with this gloriously-scatological dad joke from Giannis Antetokounmpo.

That was followed by a decidedly more poorly-received attempt from Dwight Howard, whose kryptonite continues to be an all-consuming need to be liked.

On the opposite end of the spectrum lies the meta-awareness of Carmelo Anthony, who has so fully-embraced his alter ego Hoodie Melo that he’s perpetually threatening to take it to its logical extreme.

You can work up a real appetite during such a full-day of activities, which is why Sixers rookie Markelle Fultz brought Chick-fil-A for everybody.

And what would media day be without a faux pas from some hapless reporter, whose swift and public retribution makes for instant viral fodder.

It was apparently a particularly difficult day for reporters in OKC.

Finally, we’ll leave you with some random off-beat weirdness from Lance Stephenson, who’s getting into the swing of the holiday season early.