The NBA world was left reeling on Wednesday night when news broke that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s wife, Erin, had passed away after an extended battled with an undisclosed illness. Numerous players past and present took to Twitter to offer their condolences and support, but the networks were put in a somewhat awkward position as they were forced to report the news while games between the Cavs and Pacers and the Jazz and Thunder were still in progress.
TNT’s Ernie Johnson used an Inside the NBA segment to read the Spurs’ press release on the matter, which included a statement from general manager R.C. Buford, as did NBA TV in its broadcast of Jazz-Thunder. Reporters in Oakland covering the Warriors’ Wednesday evening practice asked both Kevin Durant and Steve Kerr for comment in real time.
After the final horn of Game 2 of the Cavs-Pacers series, TNT’s Allie LaForce conducted her postgame walkoff with LeBron James and, noting his relationship with Popovich, asked him to comment. Being the consummate professional he is, James obliged, though he was visibly shaken by the news and struggled to get the words out.
Many viewers were under the impression that LaForce had sprung the question on LeBron without his prior knowledge, which sparked all sorts of outrage and social media backlash criticizing the perceived poor taste involved in such a tactic. TNT offered a statement noting LaForce had cleared the question with James prior, and once LeBron got wind of it, he posted a video via Uninterrupted to clarify what happened as well.
.@KingJames sends his thoughts and prayers to the family of Gregg Popovich, sets record straight on reporter’s question. pic.twitter.com/VCsFuEtFVU
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) April 19, 2018
The ire directed a LaForce may have been misguided to begin with as the question could have been a directive from above, but in any case, as LeBron pointed out, she obviously did the right thing by giving him a head’s up beforehand, as well as the opportunity to decline to comment.
LeBron deserves props here as well for coming to LaForce’s defense after she was rather hastily attacked on social media for simply trying to do her job under difficult circumstances with as much tact and sensitivity as possible. There are certainly ethics questions to be had about when is it appropriate to ask these types of questions, particularly in knowing the person will be learning of a death and having to react to that in real time; however, in this case it appears as though LaForce made sure to go through the necessary process of clearing that in the first place to ensure James was comfortable with the situation.
