From the outside looking in, it sure looks like ESPN has strengthened its already tight NBA connection.

Not only is the network paying the league a reported $2.6 billion per year in its current TV rights contract, but now is paying NBA Players Association president and current Pelicans guard CJ McCollum billions of dollars less to be an NBA “multi-platform” analyst.

If you want to perceive that ESPN has the league coming and going, go right ahead. Yet, as far as McCollum’s situation, this is no easy assignment. In college, he majored in journalism, but he may not be fully prepared for what is coming down the road.

If NBA contract negotiations get sticky, will those who care about such matters think McCollum, as union prez, gives the Governors (aka owners) a fair shake when he offers his on-camera ESPN analysis?

”As president of the PA, anything I say can and will be used against me,” McCollum said during a recent ESPN conference call. “So, I have to be careful.” Will treading lightly make for good TV?

On the flip side, McCollum will be commenting on players he plays with, against and represents. Diplomatic analysis can be perceived as soft.

”I’m not going to be overly critical. I’m not going to say things I wouldn’t want people saying about me,” McCollum said. “But the game is the game, right? The percentages are the percentages…. You win or you lose.”

Good luck with that philosophy.

Yet, the reality show aspect that’s now baked into the NBA can take any analysis or conversation into uncomfortable directions that stray off the court but have the unwashed masses buzzing. And for McCollum, or T-wolves guard Patrick Beverley (he’s on a part-time contract with ESPN), the media experience is amped up when they are thrown into the deep end on “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith.

The experience is akin to taking a final exam on the first day of class. But it also can accelerate the development, persona and recognition factor for the player making the appearance. To the casual fan, McCollum is not a marquee NBA personality, but following his appearance on “First Take” last week, his profile was magnified after going at it with Smith.

SAS, in a roundabout way, contended that because he is a subject of trade rumors, Lakers guard Russell Westbrook should not have attended new coach Darvin Ham’s introductory press conference. McCollum and frequent panelist J.J. Redick disagreed with SAS and double-teamed him.

”Him [Westbrook] supporting his team, his organization, his coach, a fellow African-American man that gets hired by the Los Angeles Lakers?” McCollum asked.

SAS: “Don’t go there … You’re crossing the line when you bring up another African-American man. That’s not where I’m going.”

So this was all one big misunderstanding, right? It did prove McCollum might not want to be “overly critical” of players but has no problem putting the hammer down on SAS. Double standard? Or compelling TV?

NHL STUDIO SHOW A WIN FOR ESPN

Whether it’s Mark Messier keeping it real with the Rangers, Chris Chelios telling Steve Levy “don’t put words in my mouth,” or Levy tossing a puck past goalie analyst Brian Boucher, the cast of ESPN’s Stanley Cup studio show feels free to be themselves. This is a big part of the reason the crew has clicked, blending together comfortably in a relatively short period of time. The main trio — Levy, Messier, Chelios — never come off preachy. Their between-periods analysis is not forced. And it’s Filibluster free. Their style is conversational. When there is any verbal needling, it only enhances the good-time vibe they project while passing insight and opinion to viewers.

Their roles have been naturally defined. Light-touch Levy, who, in a few words, pushes buttons, stirring the pot. Cranky Chelios, who rarely smiles but keeps his analysis tight and on point. And Messier, the eternal optimist whose analysis is understandable and insightful. Having Boucher, who gets less airtime, in the studio specifically concentrating on goalie play, which is a critical part of playoff hockey, completes the package. So at least on the NHL studio side of the production, ESPN got it right. There should be no need to install revolving doors.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

While it has already been declared Joe Buck and Troy Aikman will be a big hit when they debut on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” it can’t hurt for the suits to put an early kibosh in any internal politricks that might gum up the process and get in the new voice’s way.

That’s why Buck’s appearance as host of the recent alternative PGA Championship telecast, produced by Peyton Manning-owned Omaha Productions, was significant. The move neutralized any awkward feelings about Buck working on ESPN’s signature franchise, while the two Manning brothers (Peyton/Eli) are on ESPN2 competing with him, via the ManningCast, head-to-head and essentially siphoning off viewers.

Now, it’s clear it’s one big interconnected family and Buck has a personal and business attachment to Omaha Productions.

No matter how professional everyone acted last fall, it had to be unnerving for the MNF team of Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese to feel the heat and see the attention generated by the debut of the groundbreaking ManningCast series.

EXPAND THE SEARCH

What’s missing from the list of candidates to fill in for John Sterling when he stops doing road games this season?

A woman. That’s what’s missing.

Yes, we know Suzyn (Ma Pinstripe) Waldman is already the analyst on the Yankees radio crew. Yet it doesn’t make sense for her to jump into play-by-play. Waldman has not done any p-b-p since the early1990s. Why make such a drastic change at this point in her career? Ma has nothing to prove.

Still, there are young women working in the minor leagues deserving of a shot. Instead of considering familiar, easy to find, male voices why not open the search up to women too? Push the envelope. Make this a fair and equitable search. The Yankees have been aggressive in bringing women into the organization. Why not extend that policy to the search for Sterling’s ultimate successor?

AROUND THE DIAL

WIP, er, WFAN running a promo saying: “WFAN hosts need a break sometime so call ...” Very strange. Does this mean the call volume at the station is on the downside? ... With over eight minutes left in the third period of Lightning-Rangers Game 5, Rangers Radio Network analyst Dave Maloney sounded like he was about to jump out of the radio booth while screaming, and we mean screaming, “SHOOT THE PUCK!” Maloney would scream it again later in the period. Kenny Albert? He just continued his play-by-play, acting like he was oblivious to Maloney’s tantrum. ... Don La Greca, a Maloney pal, threw his own tantrum (he calls it “a rant”) Wednesday on ESPN-98.7′s “The Michael Kay Show.” DLG was bent over Mets players being thrown at. He called for the Mets to retaliate. “Am I advocating violence?” DLG asked? “Yes.” Other than angering any pacifists listening, La Greca’s “advocating violence” came off as comical. A guy who ran around a holiday party singing in a Santa suit suddenly is serious, “advocating” for someone getting their skull crushed? Nah. It had to be shtick. ... Can’t say we’ve seen an in-game reporter make better use of her limited time, whether it be during an interview or while she is offering up info, than Emily Kaplan, ESPN’s NHL rink side snoop. … During his Wednesday appearance on “First Take,” Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo instructed Stephen A. Smith to ask “Dave DeBusschere about Gus (Honeycomb) Johnson.” Since Mr. DeBusschere is deceased, that would be impossible.

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DUDE OF THE WEEK: MIKE FRATELLO

For being awarded the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award by the NBA Basketball Coaches Association. Fratello, known as The Czar of the Telestrator, also was an innovator as an NBA TV analyst. He received the Daly Award for setting a standard “for integrity, competitive excellence and tireless promotion of NBA basketball.”

DWEEB OF THE WEEK: JACK DEL RIO

For calling the Jan. 6 violent attack on the Capitol “a dust-up.” Del Rio’s characterization of a riot where lives were lost was ignorant and insensitive. The Commanders defensive coordinator questioned why the summer of 2020 protests, in the wake of the George Floyd murder, were not receiving the same scrutiny as the Capitol “dust-up.”

DOUBLE TALK

What John Sterling said: “For some reason he [Joey Gallo] hasn’t been able to function on the Yankee stage.”

What John Sterling meant to say: “Ya know Suzyn, Gallo can’t hit and his defense is suspect.”