Somebody at ESPN’s graphic department had too much eggnog. They either chose to play with Houston fans’ feelings or the graphics team is severely shorthanded during the holidays. In one little graphic blunder, LakeShow did a double-take, Rockets Nation’s eyes were bugging out, and Suns fans had a big fat ‘huh?’

It happened during a pre-game coverage. The ticker at the bottom of the Sports Center panel read, “Dillon Brooks, LeBron face off in a Christmas matchup.” A lot of things were wrong there and they can be explained in three points.

1. The accompanying images showed Dillon Brooks in a Houston Rockets jersey.
2. LeBron James and the Lakers are will face off Kevin Durant and the Rockets on Christmas day.
3. The Lakers played against Dillon Brooks and the Phoenix Suns tonight, December 23.

The errors were hard to ignore. Especially after one speedster grabbed the screenshot and put it on X.com.

Now it’s not the first time ESPN has blundered in its graphics. It’s not even ESPN’s exclusive faux pas. But other networks have not made enemies of the NBA community by firing fan favorite analysts and taking the NBA off YouTube TV.

That’s why this minor error became another offense against a disgruntled NBA fanbase.

ESPN puts the NBA community through five stages of grief

Thanks to the sharp-sighted fan’s quick screengrabbing abilities, a big portion of fans were left scratching their hands. “It took me 12 minutes to realize Dillon brooks don’t play for them no more😭😭” one confessed their delayed reaction.

Another said something similar. “As someone who just laid down some money on Dillon Brooks O2.5 3’s tonight in the Suns / Lakers game, I was genuinely confused 😂.” Imagine the anger towards ESPN if their blunder had made them lose money.

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LeBron James and Dillon Brooks in fact had their third matchup of the season after two very exciting back-and-forths. This time Brooks is 2-1 against Bron this season after the Suns won 132-108. Brooks had 25 points in that win, proving once again why he was a good deal in the offseason trade.

Rockets fans aren’t over losing Dillon Brooks to the Suns yet. When they ask, “When did brooks play for Houston again?” it showed the graphic mistake toyed with those emotions. They went through the five stages of grief in the span of one X post.

Denial: “No way that’s this year.”

Anger: “some people wonder how ESPN has fallen so far from grace but it makes so much sense once you realize what the E in ESPN stands for. these people dont give one flying f— about sports anymore.”

Bargaining: “What’s the issue here? Is it using brooks instead of kd or sengun?”

Depression and Acceptance: “part of me is sad that ESPN has been awful the last few years but I honestly hope it gets so much worse so that Disney is forced to do a major reboot of the entire brand.”

It might be a small glitch in a larger problem at ESPN. Like pointing out that, “Then theyll be very surprised to know KD plays for the rockets.”

Yet a deeper look might indicate, “This is why silver is mad at ESPN btw.” While Adam Silver has not explicitly named the Disney/ABC-owned cable net work, he made a very telling statement last week.

He praised the NBA on Prime team by saying, “As a fan, I think you do a great job educating other fans about the game. Because that I would say has frustrated me in the past about some coverage when it’s sort of reduced to one side wanted it more or this side played harder.”

Fans felt it didn’t apply to TNT, which lost the NBA media rights package because Silver advocated for the continuation of Inside the NBA. They felt it was a pointed jab at ESPN.

Fans have criticized the cable network for its bias for a long time. The frustration has only increased with their feud with YouTube. And it might not be a stretch to guess that the NBA commissioner is unhappy with losing the YouTube TV option.

That’s how even a minor infraction is leading to demands for a rebrand of ESPN. Or at least give the graphics team some help.