The hype around Cooper Flagg on NBA Draft night led to an unfortunate mistake by the director of ESPN’s pre-draft coverage – who jumped the gun on a graphic.
Coming out of a commercial break for their flagship show SportsCenter, the voice of an anchor said, ‘Welcome back to SportsCenter, you’re looking at Cooper Flagg and in just over an hour from now…’
The anchor’s voice then trailed off. Because as the camera panned up, the player staring directly into the lens was not the star Duke freshman.
Instead, standing there with an open jacket and staring directly into the lens was Rutgers forward Ace Bailey.
A flustered anchor said, ‘That is not Cooper Flagg at all, actually. That is quite famously Ace Bailey.’
When the booth switched to a second player to pan up, the anchor tried guessing once again that Flagg would be on the other side of the camera.
ESPN accidentally aired the wrong graphics on SportsCenter before Cooper Flagg was drafted
They put up this graphic, but instead showed Rutgers forward Ace Bailey on the screen
The SportsCenter anchor was fooled again by the camera, which panned to show Dylan Harper
But instead, she was once again incorrect as the broadcast showed Bailey’s Rutgers teammate, Dylan Harper.
It’s an unfortunate job from those in the control booth on a night where all three players were projected to be picked in the first selections of the draft.
Flagg had long been tipped to be the first overall pick and the Dallas Mavericks did not mess that selection up.
Nor did the San Antonio Spurs at pick No. 2, as they selected Harper.
As for Bailey, his night did not go according to plan – falling out of the top-3 after failing to meet with a single NBA team.
The 76ers, who had the third overall selection, decided to pick Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe instead.
Eventually, Bailey was selected fifth overall by the Utah Jazz.
