ESPN is catching heat for an odd post following Damian Lillard’s scintillating debut with the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
Lillard torched the Philadelphia 76ers for 39 points in the 118-117 win at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis.. The seven-time All-Star scored 14 of the Bucks’ final 16 points in the last four minutes of the game.
ESPN's SportCenter account posted Lillard’s interview following the contest that featured an epic soundbite – or so it seemed.
“Ain’t nothing I want more,” Lillard said in the clip. “I told you when I first came here I said, ‘I didn’t come to waste my time.'”
The viral video ESPN posted on X has been viewed over 3.5 million times as of writing.
Lillard’s message would have been an early contender for quote of the year if it wasn’t already three years old.
ESPN had re-posted footage of Lillard’s postgame interview from Aug. 2020 following his 61-point performance in the NBA bubble. The Worldwide Leader not only edited Lillard’s jersey into a Bucks uniform, but they also rotoscoped an ESPN logo over the original NBA on TNT logo.
The reactions to the said post were probably not the ones the ESPN social media manager had intended to elicit.
It’s one thing to edit a different jersey onto a photo of a player for the sake of online engagement. It feels like another thing entirely to seemingly pass off an old interview from a different broadcasting company as your own – regardless of intention.
Update - after publication of this article, ESPN provided the following statement to Yardbarker:
"We occasionally look to connect sports moments of the past with contemporary imagery and storylines as part of our social content. While it was never our intention to misrepresent anything for fans, we completely recognize how this instance caused confusion."
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