Rising NBA media personality Kenny Beecham is getting an hour-long show on SiriusXM NBA Radio starting this week, and his new colleague Frank Isola gave him quite the welcome.
Isola, a longtime host on the station who also has contributed to the New York Daily News, ESPN, YES Network, and The Athletic across a long career covering the NBA, took Beecham’s debut to air grievances with his bosses, complaining about content creators over multiple minutes during a segment Monday morning on The Starting Lineup with co-host Brian Scalabrine.
“The Kenny Beecham Hour with Kenny Beecham, aptly named,” Isola said. “God forbid we name it the Frank Isola-Brian Scalabrine show, but we’ve only been doing this show here for about how many years now? Fifteen. But you walk in, first day, they’re gonna name a show after you.”
Isola also took issue with the fact that the show’s producer, Warren Gross, gave him a promo for Beecham’s show that stated Beecham’s arrival would make Monday’s lineup on the station better, despite the fact that it is coming at the expense of Isola and Scalabrine.
“He wanted me to [say] that Mondays just got better,” Isola said. “Which means that our show, they’ll be taking an hour off our show, and Warren wants me to [say] that Mondays just got better. Because an hour of our show will be cut.”
At that point, Scalabrine suggested that Isola “just calm down.”
The entire conversation was clipped and posted to X by Beecham himself.
“This is weird,” Beecham wrote. “Dont hate the player, hate the game.”
This is weird. Dont hate the player, hate the game. pic.twitter.com/fsMwC22g1L
Later in the clip, Isola questioned whether Beecham had the notoriety to even be deserving of his own 60-minute show.
“Nationally, who’s got a bigger name: Brian Scalabrine or Kevin Beecham? Kenny Beecham,” Isola said, remembering the name of the man he was skewering.
Scalabrine responded that Beecham was a bigger name. While Isola may not have realized the position he was putting Scalabrine in, the former Boston Celtics forward counts Beecham as a colleague at NBC Sports.
Then, Isola claimed that not only was Scalabrine bigger than Beecham, but so was Isola himself.
“Bull. He does PTI? I don’t want to hear about Twitter. People buy followers,” Isola said. “Who is he? Who is he where he’s taking an hour of our show?”
Isola clearly was just trying to ruffle feathers and get his bosses’ attention, and he probably accomplished that mission given that it insulted Beecham. But Isola’s prideful belief that PTI has a wider reach in 2026 than Beecham’s decade-long career putting out content on YouTube, hosting a podcast, and interacting with fans on social media perfectly illustrates the chasm between the old guard and new guard in media.
Many sports fans who have watched cable studio shows or listened to satellite radio over the years may love Isola, and wouldn’t know Beecham from Adam. But even if you want to split hairs about the reach of Beecham’s output or his NBC Sports and NBA TV deals, he undoubtedly reaches more of the valuable younger sports fans that places like SiriusXM have lost ground with.
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