Brian Windhorst on ‘Now why is that?’ meme: ‘I knew right away it was good TV’

Over the years, ESPN senior NBA writer Brian Windhorst has featured in a number of strange media situations. But the classic may be his July 1, 2022 “Now why is that?” in-depth explanation of some Utah Jazz moves:

That appearance, which Windhorst later said was deliberately cryptic to avoid contextless aggregation (but still somewhat predicted that the Jazz’s Royce O’Neal trade was leading to something bigger, which turned into their Rudy Gobert trade), sparked the “Now why is that?” meme seen around the world. That’s even since come up around other ESPN figures in different sports.

And this week, Windhorst discussed it with ESPN’s Alex Feuz on the latest episode of the 06010 ESPN Communications podcast:

There, Feuz asks Windhorst “When did you realize that moment on First Take would resonate with so many people and become an internationally-famous meme along with it?”

Windhorst responds, “Well, I didn’t know that it was going to become a meme, but I knew right away that it was good TV.” He then adds that it came from a regular situation for him, where he’ll relay thoughts on NBA developments late at night on a podcast, then wake up early and have a “second run” at them on TV.  So that extra time to polish his thoughts may have helped here.

Windhorst remains an interesting NBA media figure. He breaks some transactional news, but is not as oriented towards that as, say, a Shams Charania. He often offers detailed analysis of various league moves and developments in written articles and podcasts and SportsCenter hits, but then is also available to discuss the league in a more debate-focused fashion on the likes of First Take and Get Up. And he’s clearly well-respected by many around the league, as seen in the support he got after catching quite a stray from LeBron James.

It’s certainly notable to hear him talk about that meme-famous moment and just how it happened.