Maria Taylor defends herself after Doug Gottlieb questioned why she gets an All-NBA vote
The NBA released the media voting results for its end-of-season awards to the public on Friday, which meant that several reporters across the country had angry fans in their mentions asking them to clarify their ballot. One of these reporters was ESPN’s Maria Taylor, who left Lakers center Anthony Davis off her ballot entirely.
Davis received 99 out of 100 total media votes to make an All-NBA team, including 79 first-team selections, and 20 second-team selections. The only member of the media to not cast a vote for Davis was Taylor, and once fans on Twitter noticed and started calling her out, she explained that it was a “CLEAR mistake.”
Fox Sports’ Doug Gottlieb chimed in on the controversy, and openly asked why Taylor deserves to vote on the NBA’s All-NBA teams, arguing that she isn’t qualified for the privilege.
Many fans and fellow media members defended Taylor, and she spelled out exactly why she gets a vote in a direct response to Gottlieb.
Gottlieb didn’t stand down, though, and dug in on his take.
The exchange comes just a few days after had to defend herself after a radio host made sexist remarks about the outfit she wore during a Monday Night Football broadcast. The host, Dan McNeil, was later fired.