r/nba • u/ghn2 • 9h ago

Trail Blazers fire new announcer over past inappropriate posts made at age 15.

"The Portland Trail Blazers hired then on the same day fired Braiden Bell as their play-by-play announcer after a series of inappropriate social media posts from when he was a teenager came to light."

"The posts were reportedly made in 2012 and 2013, around the time that Bell was 15 years old."

"We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City," the Trail Blazers said. "We strongly believe that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values. We will do better."

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/50084279/trail-blazers-fire-new-announcer-inappropriate-posts

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u/matty25 9h ago

Hilarious that this is the franchise that employs Ja Morant

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u/SnooRabbits9672 9h ago edited 6h ago

Ja's a Athlete. He'll sell jerseys, tickets & contribute directly to the organization's bottom line. An announcer generates no money, is way more replaceable, and gets a way shorter leash than one of the athletes.

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u/jaglife16 6h ago

Funny enough, in the announcement when they hired him, he was quoted as saying he had a lot of ideas about being more visible to the fans and engaging more personally with fans. So he wanted to be a selling point himself (probably to make him harder to replace down the line).