Photo: Milwaukee Bucks/X

ESPN has faced criticism for sharing a manipulated video of Damian Lillard on their social media platforms after the Bucks secured a narrow 118-117 victory over the 76ers on Thursday night.

Lillard, in his debut for the Bucks, delivered an impressive performance with 39 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.

However, ESPN’s “SportsCenter” account on X and its Instagram account sparked controversy by posting a video that appeared to show Lillard in a Bucks jersey, accompanied by the quote, “Ain’t nothing I want more. I told you when I first came here, I said I didn’t come here to waste my time.”

ESPN captioned the post: “Dame didn’t come to Milwaukee to waste his time.”

Eagle-eyed social media users were swift to detect an anomaly in the video. It was later revealed that the interview footage was actually from 2020, during Lillard’s time with the Trail Blazers.

The interview took place in the Orlando bubble and was conducted by TNT, not ESPN, as implied by the altered video.

It seems that ESPN went the extra mile to manipulate the situation. They likely inserted a Bucks logo onto the court, swapped Lillard’s Trail Blazers jersey for a Bucks one, and even flipped the microphone’s “flag” from TNT to ESPN.

All these alterations were aimed at creating the illusion that the interview was conducted by ESPN, adding to the controversy surrounding the video.

ESPN explained their reasoning for the post in a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“We occasionally look to connect sports moments of the past with contemporary imagery and storylines as part of our social content. While it was never our intention to misrepresent anything for fans, we completely recognize how this instance caused confusion,” the statement read.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR