Grizzlies star forward Jaren Jackson Jr. found himself at the center of a controversy in NBA online circles Saturday morning through no fault of his own when a Reddit user stirred the pot with an inflammatory post that suggested the Defensive Player of the Year candidate was benefitting heavily from a home scorekeeper bias. Though the post quickly became the primary topic of basketball discourse for the weekend, Kevin O’Connor—a senior basketball writer at The Ringer—provided his own evidence to dismiss the Reddit post as inaccurate.
The conspiracy theory began to first gain traction Saturday morning when the user claimed that they had evidence that the Grizzlies scorekeeper was “posting fraudulent numbers” for Jackson in order to make him a more compelling candidate for the NBA’s highest defensive honor. The in-depth post used both stats and video clips, including rather glaring home-away splits for blocks and steals, to make the point and subsequently cause quite a stir on social media.
While some were quick to latch onto the idea that Jackson’s case for DPOY may just be the result of shady stat-keeping, O’Connor wasn’t as convinced. To prove his point, the Ringer analyst went back and watched every single one of Jackson’s 66 home blocks this season in slow motion.
