BURBANK, Calif.—Cleveland Cavaliers forward Richard Jefferson received a text message recently from a number he didn’t recognize.

“I’m going to f—ing kill your podcast!!!!” it read.

The sender was Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who had just found out that Jefferson’s show about the Cavaliers was more popular than his own podcast. “I’m going to destroy you bro,” Green wrote. “Bad!”

Jefferson and Green are on either side of a basketball rivalry that has returned to the NBA Finals for the third year in a row, with the Warriors leading the Cavaliers 2-0 heading into Game 3 on Wednesday night. They’re also battling to lure listeners to their shows.

That’s where their competition ends and their role in turning the sports business upside down begins. Jefferson’s and Green’s shows belong to a network owned by Uninterrupted, a media startup founded by Cleveland star LeBron James and his business partner Maverick Carter, and backed by more than $15 million from Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. studio and Turner Sports unit.