Someone reported Lakers C Dwight Howard for not wearing a face mask on campusNBAE/getty images
There have been "multiple anonymous tips" reported to the NBA's "snitch hotline" since teams arrived in Orlando, according to Justin Leger of NBC SPORTS BOSTON. SI.com's Chris Mannix indicated that it is "primarily staffers and coaches doing the snitching." Some observers seem to be going to "great lengths to report the violations." Mannix said, "I've been told that it's not necessarily players that are using the snitch line. ... I had one conversation with an assistant coach who told me he's just sitting in his hotel room with binoculars looking to see if somebody on another team violates the protocol and ventures outside the zone" (NBCSPORTSBOSTON.com, 7/16). In L.A., Andrew Greif notes the hotline "has been the source of derision and jokes" among players and coaches. When someone reported Lakers C Dwight Howard for not wearing a face mask on the Disney campus, it was the "first known instance of a player suggesting he'd been the target of the hotline created by the league to receive anonymous tips about possible violations of the voluminous health and safety protocols that govern daily life during the league's attempted restart." Anyone living inside the NBA's bubble "can access the 'NBA Campus Hotline' through an app created by the league, where tips can be reported with a call or a text" (L.A. TIMES, 7/16).
HURTING THE BRO CODE? YAHOO SPORTS' Jay Busbee wrote the NBA Tip Line is "just one more fascinating element in this strangest of all NBA seasons." Safety of everyone in the bubble is the "crucial issue" in play for the hotline, but it "isn’t the only issue at play." Many players "see something deeply wrong with tattling on your friends, even for the noblest of reasons." Nets G Spencer Dinwiddie "advised his fellow players not to use 'the snitch hotline.'" Shaquille O’Neal on TNT on Tuesday added, "I don’t condone snitching.” Busbee: "If the Tip Line’s going to work, some players are going to have to get over their aversion to snitching" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/15).
CLEAN UP THE LINGO: ESPN’s Jalen Rose suggested another name be used for the hotline. He said, "The term 'snitching' continues to be used, and it’s being used in the wrong connotation. It’s being used incorrectly. 'Snitching' is a street lingo that relates to crime. These are professionals and multimillionaires at work. Therefore, if they’re doing something unethical, the person that calls the line is a whistleblower” (“Get Up,” ESPN, 7/16).
