Earlier this week NBA star Klay Thompson—who has history here—publicly went at NBA 2K marketing guy Ronnie Singh, both over his skill ratings in this year’s game, but also, more interestingly, at his appearance on an ESPN program. He has since apologised for all of it.
While his ratings complaints are expected from a pro athlete with a social media presence, I thought his comments on Singh’s guest segment on NBA Today were worth a closer look. Calling Singh a “clown,” Thompson said “I thought NBA on ESPN meant coverage of some of the best athletes in the world? Not interviewing a promoter...do better ESPN.”
I thought he was right! While certain levels of involvement are inevitable, the 2K series is way too tight with brands and broadcasters, which is a big reason the series has become so off-putting, and I thought Thompson calling him out on it was cool, even if his initial approach could have been smoother.
Given time to reflect, however, Thompson has chilled out and decided that an apology was in order, taking to Instagram to write:
I would like to apologize to @ronnie2k. I was in my feelings about a fictitious rating and I took out my anger on him with trolling in the comments. Cyberbullying is super lame and loser behavior and for that I am sorry bro.
He might also have been moved by Singh’s appearance and banner at Golden State’s game last night against the Lakers:
This is a shame, because while his ratings disagreement was indeed pissy, his promoter comments were solid! For those, I would have liked to see Klay do the same thing I would tell any of you to do in the same situation:
Ah well. At least it’s a good apology. One of the best I’ve ever seen in the social media age, actually!