There will be no shortage of NBA draft coverage on ABC, ESPN, and ESPN Radio on Thursday night.
You know the drill on what to expect. Eye-popping suits. All things Victor Wembanyama. The possibility that at least one prospect will go much later than expected. For those on ABC, you’ll get to see Kevin Negandhi and Stephen A. Smith, while over on ESPN, Malika Andrews will anchor coverage alongside JJ Redick, Andraya Carter, Jay Bilas, Adrian Wojnarowski, Bobby Marks, and Monica McNutt.
One thing you won’t get is Wojnarowski tipping picks (though we’re sure Shams will still take care of that). However, there will be at least one new feature as part of ESPN’s telecast.
While much of the night’s discussion will be about Wembanyama, ESPN intends to try and find ways to bring attention to the many other prospects who are about to become NBA stars. Along with the usual profile and interviews, they’re introducing a new confessional camera feature right out of The Real World.
“They will talk from the heart about their emotions of being drafted or give unique aspects to get to know them,” ESPN’s Mike Schiffman, the Senior Vice President of Productions, said on a Wednesday media call. “It’s not stuff that was put on tape a couple of weeks ago. It’s live and in the moment and I think it adds to our humanization and personalization of the players for both broadcasts.”
Given the excitement of the moment, we have to imagine there’s going to be some kind of delay and/or censor button ready to go just in case.
We just hope they designed the confessional booth to account for a bunch of seven-footers.
