"NBA itself promotes this sort of self hate": Fans debate Channing Frye's bold claim of nostalgia killing the sport   

For years, NBA fans have complained about the state of the game, whether about players attempting too many 3-pointers, playing no defense or not playing at all. However, former NBA champion Channing Frye believes it's more of a narrative than an actual issue.

During Sunday's episode of his "Road Trippin'" podcast, the former Cleveland Cavaliers big man blamed nostalgia for the way the game is now perceived, saying that it wasn't "as clean" as fans want to make it seem.

"Nostalgia is killing the NBA," Frye said. "The ’90s basketball era with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant was not as clean as you think. Y’all forget that Jordan left the league for two years. Y’all forget that Kobe — rest in peace — quit on his team in the playoffs and refused to shoot the basketball."

Frye, who played alongside LeBron James, claimed that all the comparisons with Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan are just propaganda.

"So all this talk about Kobe, Jordan — 'Oh, he’s not this, he’s not that' — it’s propaganda," Frye said. "Every great player, whether it’s Ant, Wemby, LeBron, Steph — whoever — gets compared to players from 40 years ago. But the rules weren’t even the same back then."

His comments didn't go unnoticed as several fans had something to say about them on Reddit.

"sure you’ll see it here and there in other sports but at times it feels like the NBA itself promotes this sort of self-hate. I mean look at All-Star weekend this season, we had multiple people on the official broadcast spewing negativity the entire time," one fan wrote.

"But they take three point shots!!!" another fan said.

"Not to be pedantic, but I don’t think anyone forgets that Jordan didn’t play for 1.5 years lol," another fan commented.

"This Mfer spittin," a fan wrote.

"It would be simpler if everyone watched the games (current and old) before they speak lol," one fan commented.

The NBA will have to get creative

This debate will likely not go away any time soon and the NBA commissioner's office needs to get on top of the narrative.

While the game continues to rise in popularity, and perhaps measuring the fans' interest or ratings with traditional metrics might not be the best way to do so in this day and age, the discourse around the league has mostly been negative.

The NBA just signed a massive TV rights deal, which shows that it's not struggling to survive or should be desperate. However, getting fans' attention is more difficult now and they may be looking even more to get their money's worth and an enjoyable product, especially when compared to other pro sports leagues.