As the Los Angeles Lakers were moments away from tipping off a game against the Milwaukee Bucks last season, reporter Chris Haynes stood along the baseline and provided an exclusive injury update on star forward LeBron James. Even though there was public interest in James’ health status, players are not obligated to speak with the media when sidelined. Acting in an industrious and discerning manner, Haynes leveraged the connection he had built during his time covering the Cleveland Cavaliers and texted James to see what was going on. In response, he received a detailed message divulging his rehabilitation status.
For Haynes, enterprising and delivering this insider information is how he envisioned the role, taking a similar approach to being a print journalist. Being employed by a television partner of the league, he felt obligated to try and enhance the broadcast with information and perspectives that would supplement the game. A few months later though, he decided to leave TNT Sports and become a media free agent ahead of an exciting season of basketball.
“My contract was up and others’ contracts were up, and I felt it was a good time to leave that point,” Haynes said. “Obviously we were kind of shocked that TNT didn’t get to retain the NBA rights, and so once it became clear that they were not, there was a decision to be made.”
Haynes initially wanted to decline the job with TNT Sports, but he decided to give the role a chance upon being informed that the company wanted him to shape the role to fit his own style. Learning on the fly how to disseminate information in this capacity after years of beat reporting and writing, he augmented his versatility and helped add more value to the broadcasts. Upon leaving the company, he had to consider the best manner to go about covering the 2024-25 NBA season amid a dynamic, evolving media ecosystem.
“I feel like I’ve gathered up a ton of relationships over my 15 years of covering this league, and I felt like I didn’t need a company to do what I need to do,” Haynes said. “I’m still going to be competitive out there, so I just had to figure out a way and trying to execute that without having a big company backing me.”
Throughout this season, Haynes has been working independently breaking news on social media, and he has been involved in all stages of the production process. The independent business venture, titled Haynes Briefs, is a subtle play on words that describes concise videos he produces through which he goes about reporting the latest transactions and updates around the league. Recognizing curtailed attention spans among the consumption audience, he looks to keep all videos within one to two minutes and has also secured sponsors for the endeavor.
“It’s my name, and I’m briefing you on NBA news and it’s a brief video I’m putting out, so I’m rolling with this thing,” Haynes said. “My main thing is building this up and gradually making it into something that people look forward to seeing, and hopefully I think I’ve done that to a certain extent to this point.”
In the beginning of working as a journalist unaffiliated with a traditional media conglomerate, Haynes reached out to former ESPN reporter Marc Stein about being involved in several business ventures and projects to continue covering the league. Confident in the connections he has built within the Association, Haynes remained committed to the grind and got ahead on finding and documenting movement and other news.
“For my creative juices, it’s really something refreshing to do something new,” Haynes said, “I didn’t know how I was going to cover the league this season, and I just said to myself, ‘Well, I’m not going to be shut out, period, so I’m going to figure out a way,’ and this is what I’m doing as of right now.”
Haynes is currently in the process of finalizing his YouTube page to create a new show, titled Haynes Briefs Extended, which will include interviews as well. The videos on social media have generated significant engagement and impressions, and he is excited that maintaining the brand remains a possibility while also being engaged in discussions with different companies.
“The things I consider are like, ‘Okay, I’m listening to what they’re pitching, what the role they want from me [is],’ and, ‘Can this role be similar to what I’m doing now? Is it a favorable role or something that I would like to do?,’” Haynes explained. “With Haynes Briefs, what I’m starting now, ‘Is this something that can continue with their company or some type of version of this can continue with that company?’”
Earlier in his career, Haynes worked for ESPN as a beat reporter surrounding the Golden State Warriors and moved to the Bay Area. Henry Abbott, a former NBA editor at the company, initially hired him to join the team as a national NBA writer, but Haynes expressed that things changed during the onboarding process. As a result, he was assigned to the Warriors beat, a difficult proposition considering that he was covering the rival Cavaliers in the preceding years.
During his formative years in the business, for example, Stephen A. Smith was one of several professionals from whom Haynes sought out advice. While the overarching consensus was starting off as a high school and college sports reporter before covering the NBA, he took his own path and watched as the business continued its inexorable evolution. Fifteen years later, Smith and several other media personalities work on network shows while also building digital brands and other enterprises.
“When I was at ESPN, that was something you didn’t even think of before,” Haynes said. “ESPN has you for everything. If you want to do a podcast, ‘Okay, start a podcast right here,’ so times have changed now, which is great.”
Although Haynes has not worked for ESPN since 2018, he confirmed that he took part in three meetings with the company about a potential return. At one point in the discussions, which included two phone conversations and one in-person meeting, he thought he may end up back at the network. ESPN will continue to be an NBA rightsholder next season and broadcast the NBA Finals on ABC under a new 11-year deal with the league, reportedly worth $2.65 billion per year.
“I’m a senior NBA insider – that’s what I’ve been for six or seven years now – so that’s what I do, but I want to expand what I do,” Haynes said. “Again, I like the changing of the landscape in which certain people have been given freedom to have their own thing on the side. That is something that is appealing to me.”
Haynes started working as a reporter pro bono for SLAM Magazine while serving as a high school security guard during the day. Although he was a graduate of California State University in Fresno with a degree in kinesiology, he struggled to find a job as a physical education teacher but remained poised to achieve his goals. Haynes remained optimistic that things would work out through a challenging time, and his wife gave him an ultimatum that he had a few years to pursue his dreams.
“I was just so confident that I was going to catch a break real soon,” Haynes said. “I believed that was going to be the case based off of just the inroads that I was capturing during that year, and I did it for a year, and after that, that’s when Comcast SportsNet Northwest, which was the Blazers’ TV partner at the time, that’s when they gave me that call a year later.”
Haynes has established strong connections around the league throughout his career with standout players, coaches and other key personnel. In fact, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard broke the news of him joining Yahoo Sports seven years ago, and he has been around his family for the Thanksgiving holiday as well. As Haynes began to gain credibility around the league and converse with more athletes, he found that other stars started knowing him and recognizing his work.
“One thing about the NBA and the league – it’s big, but it’s relatively small because word of mouth is still important, and players talk,” Haynes said. “They talk about who to mess with, who to trust, who not to trust, and so I know that LeBron James, Damian Lillard, guys like that, played a significant role in how I was able to get other relationships throughout the league.”
Part of forging and maintaining these connections comes in being accountable and accessible while covering the team. Haynes learned this during his first year working in Cleveland after writing a column about James’ leadership style. Upon being summoned in the locker room by James to speak with him, he felt worried about what would transpire. Conversely, James articulated that he did not care what Haynes wrote but rather asked him to approach him and ask questions beforehand about a given situation. If Haynes still desired to write something after hearing his side, James expressed that it was fine.
“From that day on – you can check with any NBA player – if I had to write a negative column or if I had to report something that was negative, I always reach out to that NBA player personally, and I give them a heads up,” Haynes said. “A lot of times, they urge that I don’t report it or write it, but one thing that they’ve always respected [is] that I gave them a heads up and I told them because players hate to find out news via Twitter before it gets announced.”
Operating in an era predicated on instant gratification, there are instances where speed has harmed reporters in being accurate with given dispatches. Haynes usually has multiple sources who confirm news and treats the initial tip as a lead, but there are instances where he will forsake that paradigm. When obtaining information from people with whom he has a strong track record, he will attribute the information to one individual by listing ‘Source’ in its singular taxonomy.
“You have to trust the people that you’ve known that have done this for years and that have a track record, and those are far and few, and so I just go based off of my history,” Haynes said. “You know my résumé, you know the connections I have, you know the relationships I have, and so I think that speaks for itself.”
While Haynes looks to uncover the storylines that may otherwise go undetected, he understands that it all comes back to relationships. Possessing scoops and concomitant details is more valuable than ever before, he contends, because of the difficulty associated with procuring such information.
Before starting Haynes Briefs this season, he had occupied a singular role focused on reporting, but he has now adopted more of an entrepreneurial mindset. The ideal next steps for the venture would include the expansion of his own team, but with ongoing discussions in the business, he is remaining open to see what could be coming next.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” Haynes said. “I’m having talks with different companies. We’ll see what happens, but for the time being, my focus is on Haynes Briefs and providing news in a different way, and hopefully it resonates with people. So far, it looks like it has.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Derek Futterman is an associate editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, email Derek@BarrettMedia.com or find him on X @derekfutterman.
