A sports broadcaster’s dream NBA job lasted only a matter of hours after years-old social media posts surfaced on the same day he was hired.
The Portland Trail Blazers announced Thursday that 29-year-old Braiden Bell would become the team’s new television play-by-play announcer for the 2026-27 season.
By Thursday night, he was out.
The stunning reversal came after Portland television reporter Devon Haskins uncovered a series of offensive posts Bell made on Twitter, now known as X, in 2012 and 2013.
Bell would have been approximately 15 or 16 years old when the posts were written.
Some of the messages contained derogatory comments about Asian people, while others included crude and insulting remarks about women.
Hours after the posts began circulating, the Trail Blazers announced they were cutting ties with Bell.
“The Portland Trail Blazers have zero tolerance for racist, sexist, or harmful comments,” the organization said in a statement.
The team said the posts violated its values, expectations and applicable team and league policies.
Portland also acknowledged shortcomings in its own hiring process.
“We did not meet our own bar in this process, and for that we apologize to Blazers fans and to Rip City,” the team said.
The organization added that it wants everyone associated with the franchise to feel welcome and safe and promised to “do better” as it searches for another broadcaster.
Bell Had Been Announced Only Hours Earlier
The firing came almost immediately after what had appeared to be a major career breakthrough for Bell.
Portland announced Thursday morning that he had been selected to replace longtime television voice Kevin Calabro.
Bell had built his broadcasting résumé calling college basketball and other sports for California Baptist University and his alma mater, Arizona State.
He had also worked with the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and the Phoenix Suns’ G League organization.
Landing an NBA television play-by-play position at 29 represented a significant step in his career.
That opportunity disappeared before he ever called a regular-season game for Portland.
Bell Apologizes
Bell broke his silence Friday and apologized for the old posts.
“I am deeply sorry for the language that I used on Twitter,” Bell said.
He acknowledged that the comments were wrong but emphasized that they were written approximately 14 years ago when he was 15.
Bell said the posts do not reflect the person he is today.
He also apologized to anyone hurt by his past words and said he intends to continue treating others with kindness and respect.
The timing of the posts has become a significant part of the discussion surrounding his firing.
According to KGW’s review, the offensive posts that surfaced were from Bell’s teenage years. The outlet reported that it did not find comparable offensive posts after Bell reached adulthood, and his more recent social media presence had largely focused on sports and broadcasting.
Bell later made his X account private.
Blazers Search Starts Again
The controversy leaves Portland searching once again for a new television voice just as preparations for the upcoming NBA season are underway.
Bell had been selected to succeed Calabro, who spent roughly a decade calling Trail Blazers games and became a familiar voice to Portland basketball fans.
The team has not yet announced who will now take over the position.
For Bell, the episode is also a dramatic reminder of how posts made years earlier can resurface during a high-profile hiring process.
He went from being publicly introduced as one of the NBA’s newest television broadcasters to losing the job before the day was over.
Now, the Trail Blazers must restart their search while Bell faces the fallout from comments he posted online as a teenager.