NBA star sounds off on fake news

Chet Holmgren recently experienced the perils of media aggregation.

There’s beginning to be a disconnect between the media and players, and part of that is due to aggregator accounts. Both sides have some responsibility to decipher truth from fact, but according to Holmgren, quotes being taken out of context is exactly why players don’t have anything interesting to say to the media.

The problem of aggregator accounts misrepresenting news, as highlighted by The Athletic’s Dianna Russini in the NFL, is equally prevalent in the NBA. Nobody’s immune from it, as highlighted by a recent incident between the Oklahoma City Thunder forward and the aggregator account @TheDunkCentral.

During a recent appearance on Road Trippin ‘ with Channing Frye and Richard Jefferson , the 22-year-old Holmgren was asked about his favorite three arenas to play in as a hooper.

He said in no order, Golden State, Miami and Minnesota.

Holmgren said he loved playing in Miami because “it’s just like empty.” But after he was interrupted by a chorus of laughter, he wanted to clarify his thoughts and what he actually meant by that. Frye said he knew what Holmgren meant by that because the fans come in late, and the energy is “crazy” as the game builds up.

That’s why Holmgren said, “As the away team, you just got to build that lead in the first three quarters, and then it just stays quiet for the fourth.”

The aggregated quote falsely portrayed Holmgren as insulting Heat fans by claiming the arena was empty when his actual point was about the distinctive energy that builds throughout the game due to fans arriving later.

Here’s what was taken out of the podcast:

Frustrated by what he felt was an intentional distortion of his comments for engagement purposes, Holmgren took to social media to confront a narrative already forming.

Holmgren took issue with how his comments were portrayed in the media, specifically because he thought he had thoroughly explained himself clearly and that Frye understood his intended meaning.

Holmgren argued that players are often criticized for not engaging in media interviews. Yet, aggregator accounts like @TheNBACentral contribute to this problem by taking quotes out of context to generate clicks.

He clarified that his comment about Miami’s arena being “empty” referred to the early part of the game before the crowd builds momentum. Holmgren said this was meant to compliment the electric atmosphere that develops later in the game.

The original tweet that seemingly took his words out of context garnered 5.7 million impressions on X, while his clarification received only 1.9 million. And that’s likely already created a false narrative online suggesting he was criticizing Heat fans, which, based on his comments’ intent, is unfair to him and the Miami crowd.

[ Chet Holmgren ]

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