Braiden Bell is asking the Portland Trail Blazers to reconsider the decision that ended his tenure as the team’s new television play-by-play broadcaster almost as quickly as it began.
Bell, 29, has retained attorney Arnie Herz and is formally seeking reinstatement after Portland fired him just hours after announcing his hiring last week. The decision came after racist and misogynistic social-media posts Bell had written as a teenager in 2012 and 2013 were uncovered.
The Trail Blazers responded swiftly at the time, saying the posts violated team and league standards and that the organization had “zero tolerance for racist, sexist or harmful comments.” Portland also acknowledged that its own vetting process had fallen short.
Bell is now asking the team to weigh the offensive posts against the person he says he has become since.
“Braiden is not asking anyone to excuse what he wrote,” Herz said. “He has owned it, without excuses. What he is asking is whether a boy’s words from fourteen years ago should outweigh everything the man has done since.”
Herz’s argument centers on accountability and rehabilitation rather than denying what was posted. Bell’s camp has also proposed that, if reinstated, he work with Portland on community and educational initiatives, including outreach involving Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and organizations supporting women and girls in sports.
Bell also made clear through his attorney that he does not blame KGW or the journalists who uncovered the posts. In fact, his counsel specifically called for criticism directed at the station and its employees to stop.
“I love this game, I love this city, and I am grateful to every fan who has reached out over the past few days,” Bell said in a statement. “I will keep working every day to be someone Rip City can be proud of, whatever happens next.”
Bell had been hired to replace longtime broadcaster Kevin Calabro after previously calling games for the Phoenix Mercury and the G League’s Valley Suns. His original stint with Portland lasted only a matter of hours.
Now the story has moved into a different phase. The question is no longer whether the old posts were offensive; Bell and his attorney are not disputing that. The question they are putting to the organization is whether conduct from his teenage years should permanently outweigh the professional record he built as an adult.
