Stan Van Gundy and ESPN at Odds Over Proposed Deal

Former Orlando Magic and Miami Heat head coach Stan Van Gundy is furious with ESPN, claiming that the sports programming network recently rescinded an offer that would have had Van Gundy join the channel as an analyst.

It was rumored that Van Gundy was to set to join ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” pre and post game show this upcoming season, but now all of that has been done away with due to an ESPN spokesperson saying that the network and Van Gundy “differed on potential assignments”. When asked about the comment made by the spokesperson, Van Gundy said it was “just a flat-out lie” and said the reason that he had not received an answer from the network was “because no one there has the guts to say anything”.

There is plenty of speculation around the sports world that NBA Commissioner David Stern may have had something to do with the deal disappearing due to Van Gundy’s past criticism of the commisioner and other league officials, including referees. Big Lead Sports’ Jason McIntyre first broke this news and has his own theories and speculations regarding the situation, stating that the dealbreaker was essentially an ESPN.com podcast that went live on Sept. 10–right around the time when rumors began to surface that Van Gundy would be working for the network.

If all of this speculation is true, then once again Dictator Stern has ruled with an unfair iron fist and shown why he is more of a corrupt leader than he is a commissioner of a professional sports league.