Last season, Raptors reporters landed in hot water after leaked audio caught them talking about Scottie Barnes. Now, Sacramento has its own hot-mic problem. During the Kings’ media day, reporters were caught in an unfiltered conversation about Ben Simmons and Zach LaVine that quickly went far beyond basketball. The original livestream has since been taken down, but clips are already spreading online, and some of the remarks were a lot more personal than anyone probably expected to hear.
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“Ben Simmons is cringe, cringe,” one female reporter said. “He’s so lucky that he’s fine,” another replied before adding, “He’s a good-looking dude. His skin is so smooth I was like, ‘damn, no tattoos.’” Then a male voice jumped in with, “I thought Jordan Poole was your type,” before steering the conversation toward Zach LaVine. One female reporter did not hesitate: “Hella fine.” But the compliments stopped there, as another reporter quickly turned the conversation toward LaVine’s personality.
“I think his personality was sh**load,” one reporter said. Then came an even harsher take: “Zach LaVine is cute but his personality f–king annoys me. It just seems like he’s a prick.” His appearance still earned compliments, with reporters also calling his skin “smooth.” So far, none of the reporters involved have been publicly identified, and neither LaVine nor the other players mentioned have responded.
Last year, Scottie Barnes did not hide his issue. He shared the clip on his Instagram Story, adding a short caption that suggested he had seen the whole thing: “Be chatting lol.” This was because the clip had the reporters taking aim at the Raptors star’s communication style and attitude.
“It’s not just his enunciation, which, like, was super bad, especially last year,” one person said about the 25-year-old. The criticism then moved beyond the way he spoke and toward his demeanor.
“But even the attitude. Just the attitude — like he’s having fun up there. First year or even before, he just kept getting worse and worse every year.” The conversation soon turned to the then Toronto star, Mogbo, with another reporter offering an unfiltered opinion of the 24-year-old forward.
“When I first interviewed Mogbo when he was drafted, I was shocked ’cause he was so dumb,” the person said. Then came the warning. Someone off-camera reminded the group that their microphones were still live. Rather than stopping the conversation, the reporters laughed off the heads-up and carried on.
The specific reporters were never officially named or publicly sanctioned by their respective media outlets or the team. It will be interesting to see if the NBA investigates the Kings reporters and if there is any action taken against them.