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Now, here's Mike Sykes Happy Friday, folks! Welcome back to Layup Lines. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you've had an excellent week and have an even better weekend planned ahead of you.
The biggest story in the NBA this week seemed to be one that had nothing to do with the actual league and everything to do with the folks that cover it. ESPN's do-it-all NBA analyst, Zach Lowe, was laid off by the company this week, according to reports . The reason why is reportedly less about anything that Lowe did or didn't do and more about cost-cutting measures.
The move isn't shocking given the current landscape of things at ESPN. Lowe isn't the only one in recent weeks to have been let go by the company. ESPN has done quite a bit of purging in 2024, including names like Robert Griffin III and Sam Ponder.
I don't mean to brush any of those names aside. Losing your job is no small deal for anyone no matter what your net worth is. But, moving forward, I'm not sure there's a more impactful name on that list than Lowe's right now considering his role at the company and, generally, what he means to coverage of the NBA in particular.
To explain this, we've got to take a step back. Around this time last season, Adam Silve.