Steve Kerr: Magik was harshly criticized by the media. But he did not have a phone where fans could write to him that he sucks
5.04.2025
The head coach Warriors shared his considerations about the modern media environment. Last week, Lebron James complained that the media was too aggressively attacking the NBA superstars.
I think that all this speaks more about modern society than about the media themselves. When I grew up, I read everything in a row. I grew up in Los Angeles, was a huge fan of Lakers. I remember how Media wrote about Magic Johnson, when in his first couple of years in Los Angeles something went wrong-and he was harshly criticized. But he did not have a phone in his hand where fans could write to him that he sucks.
Then there was a column in the newspaper and, possibly, the transfer to the radio. It was quite easy to avoid all this. When I played, there were no social networks. I tried to avoid everything, and it was really easy. Today it is impossible for players to hide from this pressure.
I do not think that media illuminates the game differently. Previously, there was also a lot of negativity, you are always in the spotlight. It’s just that now it’s the amount of information, now there are too many information, players are available a huge number of comments from which they cannot hide.
It seems to me that it suppresses in many respects. This is very similar to what is happening in the rest of the society, whether it is politics or social networks for children in high school, in high school - it is difficult to call this a healthy environment. But as for how the media generally illuminates athletes, I do not think that now it is somehow different.
When I tried to get into Chicago, I somehow read one article. Then I had an excellent training camp, but I had an ungranted contract. And so I took Chicago Tribune, and Sam Smith wrote the material that they would probably expel me. I was shocked and crushed, and the next day I had a terrible training, because I thought about it all the time.
It became clear to me that it would be better for me not to read such things. Later, when I met Sam, I scolded him for it because it was not true. I got into the team, but from that moment I simply told myself: you know that it will be better not to read Chicago Tribune. There was no Internet then, therefore, to find out the results of the matches, I still had to open newspapers. I just switched to USA Today because I knew that there would be no articles about bulls, ”Kerr said.
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