NBA analyst slams TNT for not featuring Nikola Jokic on their opening night poster

It’s finally here! The start of the new 2023/24 NBA campaign is set to begin this week and believe it or not, the controversy around their promotional content is already underway. Basketball analyst Kevin O’Connor ripped into TNT for not featuring Nikola Jokic, the reigning champion, on their opening night poster. 

The Nuggets are scheduled to open this regular season against the Lakers on October 24, but the Serbian superstar was nowhere to be found in the network’s opening graphic title. Instead, the poster portrays Celtics star Jayson Tatum, who’s team isn’t even playing this Tuesday, as their game against the New York Knicks will be played the following night.

“Really strange Jokic isn’t featured on this graphic. The Celtics aren’t even playing on Tuesday!” he wrote on social media. Other media icons followed with a similar message of irony, just as Vic Lombardi later posted.

Oh, and the NBA champs.
They’re playing too. pic.twitter.com/zkFFXxWz4z

— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) October 22, 2023

TNT’s actions keep adding to the recurrent narrative that the media only showcase games with big names and not necessarily the best teams, a discourse in which the Denver squad insisted last season.

“Let’s be honest, the national narrative, was, ‘Hey, the Lakers are fine. They’re down 1-0, but they figured something out.’ No one talked about Nikola just had an historic performance (in Game 1). He’s got 13 (playoff) triple-doubles now, third all-time. What he’s doing is just incredible,” coach Michael Malone recalled.

The champion trainer believed that the spotlight was solely on LeBron James and the Lakers squad, and not at all over the fact that his squad was dominating the Western Conference Finals.

“But the narrative wasn’t about the Nuggets,” Malone insisted. “The narrative wasn’t about Nikola. The narrative was about the Lakers and their adjustments. So, you know, you put that in your pipe, you smoke it, and you come back and you know what, we’re gonna go up 2-0.”

LeBron James reveals he isn’t obsessed with opening night’s revenge vs. Denver and is ‘self-motivated’

As the press asked if there was any venom left against the reigning champs, James decided to take the high road. “I don’t get motivated against [who] the opponents [are] pretty much anymore,” the 38-year-old said this weekend.

“I don’t need it. I don’t want to say I don’t get motivated to play, because I do get motivated to go against the competition, I love competing against the best. But I don’t need an individual or a team to motivate me. I’m self-motivated. I’m enough,” the veteran superstar shared.

In the video above, check out the NBA’s recent post of The Joker’s championship run ahead of this upcoming start of the season.

The press then insisted in trying to get James to share some vengeful quote ahead of opening night, but he simply said that he will remain quiet and work hard on the court this campaign.

“There will be a time,” the Lakers forward guaranteed. “When that time is, I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s now or … there will be a time. There will be a time when everybody will get it, for sure.”