The first day of the 2024 NBA Draft kicked off on Wednesday night on both ESPN and ABC. And unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the network to make a number of crucial mistakes early on in their broadcast when it came to introducing a number of top prospects.
Just before the draft got started, some of the top prospects got introduced to the viewers watching at home. Former Tennessee Volunteers guard Dalton Knecht had his name called along with a number of his accolades throughout his playing days.
There was just one problem though. Instead of showing Knecht, ESPN showed French prospect Tidjane Salaün, who was very clearly smirking about being highlighted instead of Knecht.
We can't place it, but something looks different about Dalton Knecht.
(H/T @ContextFreeCBB) pic.twitter.com/wutKujpWp9
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 27, 2024
Knecht wasn’t even the only victim of being misidentified by ESPN. The same thing happened when former Pittsburgh Panthers guard Carlton “Bub” Carrington had his name called, only for ESPN to show former Miami Hurricanes forward Kyshawn George alongside his family.
https://twitter.com/Snyphe/status/1806115782025204160
Things didn’t get much better for the network when the draft started. The network made another crucial mistake when they showed a graphic after Reed Sheppard was drafted at No. 3 overall that included the wrong name for Sheppard’s father, Jeff Sheppard, referring to him as John Sheppard.
Reed Sheppard is a second-generation NBA player. His dad — JEFF — played for the Atlanta Hawks. pic.twitter.com/nQ9FueBrt7
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 27, 2024
This mistake is particularly jarring when you consider just how highly ranked of a prospect Reed Sheppard is. And the fact that Jeff Sheppard did play in the NBA, albeit for only one season.
These kinds of errors happen from time to time. But to have multiple high-profile players be misidentified at the very beginning of draft coverage is undoubtedly a bad look for ESPN.
