ESPN tried to prevent its reporters from leaking out picks before they were announced during the NBA Draft last year, but they may be nixing that policy now after the way Adrian Wojnarowski made a mockery out of it.
Prior to the draft last year, there was a report that ESPN, Yahoo and Turner all agreed to not have reporters tip draft picks on social media to make for a better TV viewing experience. But when Marc Stein of The New York Times started doing it, Woj refused to be scooped. He then came up with the idea of tweeting picks before they were announced by using creative terms to avoid saying X team “will select” X player.
Here are some of the hilarious examples:
#WojAfterDark pic.twitter.com/GWHpo98lsG
— Clemin Durant (@TheClemReport) June 22, 2018
That mockery is likely the main reason ESPN may be backing down from the policy for Thursday’s draft, as Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that are expected to allow Woj and others to tip picks before they’re announced on TV.
"Tantalizing draft news:" The Post has learned, ESPN and the NBA are "zeroing in" on allowing Woj & company to tweet out the picks before they are announced. Last year, Woj broke the pre-plan agreement after Marc Stein started tipping picks. I'm "fixated" to write a column on it
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) June 19, 2019
Wojnarowski is the best NBA reporter in the business, so ESPN is compelled to keep him happy. He poked fun at the situation earlier this month with a funny tweet during the MLB Draft, and having it happen again would be an even worse look for the Worldwide Leader.
