Spectrum SportsNet
Two-time NBA All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas appeared in 40 games for the Washington Wizards in 2019-20, making 37 starts and playing nearly 1,000 minutes. Thomas, who starred as a member of the Boston Celtics, was a very positive story as he recovered from long-term injury issues, and he even averaged 12.2 points per game while shooting 41.3 percent from three-point range. However, Thomas has not played in the NBA for more than a calendar year, last appearing on the court last week as a member of Team USA in a FIBA AmeriCup qualifying matchup against the Bahamas.
Still, that didn’t stop the folks from Spectrum SportsNet from giving Thomas an inadvertent shoutout in advance of Monday’s game between the Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers. While introducing the Wizards’ starting lineup, the Lakers-based broadcast used a photo of Thomas in place of Russell Westbrook, drawing all kinds of attention.
Hey @isaiahthomas pic.twitter.com/b1QkSgBteH
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) February 23, 2021
Not only did the swap make the rounds in the form of a still frame photo, the video came to light and it even made reference to the difficulty of stopping Washington’s backcourt.
Lakers broadcast put IT in the starting lineup instead of Russ pic.twitter.com/Ex1nwK1HUB
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 23, 2021
This is mostly just hilarious, and there is no real harm done. In fact, broadcasts make mistakes on occasion and swapping in the wrong photo is just one of those blunders. Still, it is even funnier that this mishap involved a former MVP from the Wizards being swapped for a player no longer on the team’s roster, and it isn’t as if the Lakers would be unfamiliar with Thomas, given that he was on the roster for Los Angeles back in 2017-18.
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