Braiden Bell is begging for a second chance.
asserted
Bell → beg → chance
On Monday, the 29-year-old play-by-play announcer asked the Portland Trail Blazers for another shot at being the voice behind their team ahead of the 2026-27 season.
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announcer → ask → season
Last week, the team hired the Arizona State graduate, who worked his way up from college sports gigs to calling games for the WNBA’s Mercury and the Suns’ G League team.
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who → hire → Mercury
That same day, the Blazers quickly let him go after misogynistic and racist social media posts from his past resurfaced.
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posts → let → past
By Tuesday, the team responded and opted to stick to their initial decision.
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team → respond → decision
“We stand by our statement issued last week and have no further comment at this time.
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We → stand → time
We wish Mr. Bell the best,” the Blazers told The Athletic.
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Blazers → wish → Athletic
The problematic posts date back to 2012 and 2013 when Bell was around 15 years old.
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Bell → date → 2012
The posts contained comments about “Asian people” and used the terms “slut” and “wh–s” in reference to women.
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posts → contain → women
Asian people piss me off!
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people → piss → me
Hahaha #Honest,” Bell wrote in a post on Dec. 9, 2012.
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Bell → write → Dec.
“We got a slut alert on aisle 10,” Bell wrote on Feb. 13, 2013.
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Bell → get → Feb.
Bell asked for his second chance in a statement through his counsel Arnie Herz.
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Bell → ask → counsel
“Should the worst words a fifteen-year-old ever wrote decide the rest of his life?
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old → write → life
That is the question now before the Portland Trail Blazers,” the statement read, per Awful Announcing.
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statement → read → Announcing
“Braiden is not asking anyone to excuse what he wrote,” Herz added.
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Herz → ask → what
“He has owned it, without excuses.
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He → own → excuses
What he is asking is whether a boy’s words from fourteen years ago should outweigh everything the man has done since.
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man → ask → everything
If that is the standard, hardly anyone in any organization in America could meet it.
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anyone → meet → it
Accountability means owning what you did and showing who you have become.
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you → mean → what
Braiden has done both.”
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Braiden → do → both
A journalist at KGW in Portland spotted the posts and reached out to the team for comment before Bell’s firing.
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journalist → spot → firing
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the Blazers said in a statement.
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Blazers → have → statement
“Social media posts made by our recently announced play-by-play broadcaster are in clear violation of team and league policies, as well as our values and expectations.
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posts → make → policies
Therefore, we will not be moving forward with this broadcaster.
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we → move → broadcaster
“The play-by-play role carries a long legacy of excellence, on the broadcast and in character, and we hold that standard without exception.
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we → carry → exception
We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City.
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we → meet → City
We believe strongly that everyone who is a part of Rip City should feel welcome and safe and we will make sure that our new broadcaster reflects these values.
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broadcaster → believe → values
We will do better.”
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We → do → ?
The report from KGW noted that it had not found any offensive posts from Bell when he was of adult age.
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he → note → age
Bell was hired to replace long-time voice of the Blazers, Kevin Calabro, who told The Oregonian he was leaving after he was offered a “subprime” contract deal.
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he → hire → deal
The Aporia
