ESPN senior writer Vincent Goodwill has received an unnecessary amount of backlash over the past week.
During a recent episode of "Get Up," Goodwill and the rest of ESPN's crew debated whether or not dynasties are good for the NBA. That's been a hot topic since eight different teams have won the Finals since 2019.
“Dynasty is better for the sport,” Goodwill said. “I like to know that greatness is validated. How do we know that any of the last eight champions are actually validated because they have not done it again? Giannis is itching to get out, Boston is thinking about trading Jaylen Brown, they don’t believe in their one championship. LeBron’s one championship in LA was not enough. So why would it be enough for us?”
When ESPN's Alan Hahn argued that teams don't need validation because they get to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy, Goodwill replied, "You mean participation trophy?"
Knicks fans were convinced Goodwill was taking a jab at their championship run.
© Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
This situation took an ugly turn.
Goodwill appeared on "The Dan Patrick Show" this Tuesday to discuss the NBA Draft, the Knicks' championship run and his controversial take.
“I never said the Knicks got a participation trophy,” Goodwill said, via Awful Announcing. “That is where the context is all screwed up. The topic we were talking about on Get Up was dynasties vs. parity. And my point was in the NBA’s greatest era, there’s always the team that you have to chase…the quip was just a sarcastic comment of ‘Oh, everybody gets a trophy. You get a trophy! You get a trophy!’ I thought it was just something funny, I didn’t think people would take it so damn literally. But sarcasm goes over people’s heads.”
When asked if he was trying to stir up controversy with his "participation trophy" comment, Goodwill quickly shut down that narrative. He also revealed that he received threats from angry Knicks fans.
“No, I got death threats,” Goodwill said. “Do you think I wanted death threats from Knick fans? And I wasn’t even talking about them. I think this was the most dominant run you’ve (the Knicks) ever had, and you think I’m talking about y’all. Maybe that’s a you problem. When you ain’t never been nowhere, you think everybody’s talking about you. Do better.”
There's no place in sports for this kind of behavior, make no mistake about it. We're hoping these unruly fans are done sending nasty messages to Goodwill.
