Sideline reporter used stepstool to interview Bol Bol

There have often been some funny moments around height discrepancies in sports. The latest came Friday night after the Phoenix Suns’ 125-108 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans. A key storyline there was Phoenix center Bol Bol, who had 25 points in the victory (including five of eight makes from deep. But Bol (son of Manute Bol, and in his sixth NBA season at just 25) is 7’3”, so Suns’ sideline reporter Amanda Pflugrad used a two-step stepstool to interview him:

It’s funny how most of that interview is shot close enough in that you can’t see the stool, only for the camera operator to slowly pan out at the end and reveal it. And that led to some laughter from announcers Kevin Ray and Eddie Johnson. “Did Amanda grow?” “Our girl Amanda, needing a stepladder, and he still had to lean down to hear you.” “Is that what they call it, a stepladder? I thought she grew about five inches.”

This is far from the first time a height discrepancy’s come up in sports, from the iconic Aaron Judge-Jose Altuve photo to 5’7” Spud Webb next to Bol’s 7’7” father. We’ve also seen this in broadcast booths with tall analysts like Bill Walton, Greg Olsen, and so on. And a stool for a reporter interviewing a tall player on camera is far from unheard of. But this one was pretty funny.

And, with Bol on a current hot streak (he has 23, 15, and 25 points in his last three games, well ahead of his 7.9 points per game average this season), this stool may get more use down the road. There are plenty of local Suns’ broadcasts (available over the air on the Gray Television Arizona’s Family/Arizona’s Family Sports stations locally, as well as direct-to-consumer) ahead. And Pflugrad, in her second season as their local sideline reporter, may need to keep using that extra height if particularly tall players like Bol keep shining.