Former ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols was at the NBA Cup semifinals on Saturday night in Las Vegas for her new show Open Run when she burst out with one of the stranger questions asked to a star athlete in some time.
In an on-camera interview with reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (whose Oklahoma City Thunder would go on to suffer their second loss of the season to the San Antonio Spurs), Nichols took inspiration from social media for a query on OKC’s sharp general manager, Sam Presti, and his prodigious scouting abilities.
Apparently, there is a meme floating around suggesting Presti is so hungry to find talent for the Thunder that he would invade the doctor’s office if and when A’ja Wilson and Bam Adebayo had children. The couple recently went public after years of speculation that they were dating.
With an assist from her producer to help recall the meme, Nichols asked Gilgeous-Alexander whether he agreed with the idea.
“Sam takes his job very serious, and whatever it takes to be great, he will do,” SGA responded.
As soon as the clip began to go viral online, Wilson and Adebayo each took issue with the question. Both responded directly to the clip in a post on Threads.
“You don’t think this a lil strange orrrr weird..???” Wilson wrote. “But I guess it’s a slow day in the office”
Adebayo was even more terse in his reply:
“This is why privacy matters”
To Nichols’ credit, she got a good response from SGA. The question didn’t land as an overstep in the moment with the Thunder star.
However, the people whose relationship and privacy she was trampling on clearly saw it that way. And that’s the problem.
It would be different if SGA had a direct connection to Wilson or Adebayo to the point that he would be a relevant person to ask about the couple. But the only tie-in was seemingly a random meme that mentioned Presti.
Elsewhere on social media, many other fans and commentators ripped Nichols for the question.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.