The first game of the 2026 NBA Finals was everything fans wanted from playoff basketball. The New York Knicks overcame an early 14-point deficit and brought themselves within striking distance of the San Antonio Spurs by the third period, with the orange and blue team only taking the lead in the final minutes. Courtside fans, unable to contain themselves, stormed the hardwood To take selfies with the stars in pure playoff ecstasy.
For those watching at home, things were pretty exciting, except for one small wrinkle: a second-long clip in ESPN’s presentation that featured an AI-generated likeness of Spurs legend Tony Parker.
like before reported by terrible announcementESPN took regular commercial breaks during the second half of the game. Before the actual ad break begins, the networks like to insert a little commercial bumper. In this special bumper, a voice over announced that the broadcast was brought to audiences by Burger King and the upcoming Universal Pictures film “Minions & Monsters.”
As ESPN displayed a small advertising box for the Minions flick, the main image appeared to be B-roll of Parker slowly shaking his finger while holding a cigar. It’s truly a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but eagle-eyed basketball fans were quick to point out the bizarre decision to use generative AI on a historic broadcast.
“Could ESPN really not find the actual shot of Tony Parker because they cut out an ad break? Just had to use AI,” commented Journalist John Healy Ex-ex-on-twitter.
“AI is useless,” Sports anchor Jeff Dubroff said. “This isn’t Tony Parker. Do better. Gross.”
After the AI ​​clip circulated on social media, fans noticed that it notably didn’t match the French-American NBA champion, who is currently 44 and not present in the game.
“I didn’t even know who it would be,” One fan got angry.
Given that ESPN likely has hundreds of hours of actual footage of Parker — to say nothing of still images, which would be just as good — fans make a fascinating point: Why on earth was it animated with AI to begin with?
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