Shannon Sharpe made brutal mistake on ESPN while talking about Mavericks
Stephen A. Smith apparently isn’t the only ESPN personality prone to goofs.
On Monday’s episode of “First Take,” Shannon Sharpe was speaking during a segment previewing the upcoming Western Conference Finals between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Dallas Mavericks. Sharpe addressed the Mavericks’ frontcourt situation and noted that they generally stagger the minutes of centers Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II. He then suggested that Dallas might consider throwing JaVale McGee into the center rotation as well.
“If I’m not mistaken, I think JaVale McGee is on that side, [he’s] also with the Mavericks,” said Sharpe. “Could it be a situation where we see [him]?”
Here is the video (at the 5:15 mark).
Regrettably though, McGee is no longer with the Mavericks and has not been all season. McGee was on Dallas during the 2022-23 campaign but spent this entire year with the Sacramento Kings.
Sharpe did quickly realize his mistake though (perhaps thanks to a producer talking into his earpiece) and promptly said, “Nah, he’s not there” of McGee.
In Sharpe’s defense, McGee is a little-used role player off the bench and has now been on nine different teams over the course of his NBA career, making it difficult to keep track of where exactly McGee is these days. But that was still a pretty rough mistake for Sharpe to make on the air, similar to the one that Smith made on a show just last month.
H/T NBA Reddit