It was a historic night for the OKC Thunder. For the first time in franchise history, they were the last team standing after a gruelling NBA season, with the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy in their arms. Obviously, the entire hoop community was glued to their television screens and mobile devices to witness this once-in-a-lifetime moment. But their experience was supposedly ruined by ESPN’s disappointing coverage.

Throughout these Finals, ESPN and ABC have received constant backlash for not putting in more effort into their coverage. While OKC vs Pacers was the most important series of the year, the pinnacle of NBA basketball, ESPN failed to give it a big-game feel. From missing Finals decals on the court to no added theatrics to boost the grandeur, it often felt like a regular-season game in terms of presentation. And fans’ frustration reached its tipping point tonight when Lisa Salters took the stage for the trophy presentation ceremony.

The ESPN veteran had the unique opportunity to bring out Thunder members’ candid thoughts on winning their first title, as the host of the ceremony. However, fans were not pleased with Lisa’s standard of questions during the presentation. While she interviewed everyone, from OKC head coach Mark Daigneault to Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the interactions felt bland to viewers at home.

Moreover, Lisa was not the only target. Even the ESPN Countdown crew, including Malika Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Kendrick Perkins, and Bob Myers, were under fire for their performance in the pregame show. Criticism sparked when SAS and Big Perk got into a heated debate, leading to a loud and uninhibited rant by Stephen A. “I’m not disagreeing with Perk per se, but he is really annoying me today,” the ESPN veteran remarked. It got to a point when Myers had to shut Smith down by saying, “Just because you yell something doesn’t mean it’s true.”

Sure enough, these frequent unpleasant moments by ESPN left the viewers demanding stern action.

NBA World urges Lisa Salters to retire as ESPN’s NBA Finals coverage becomes “unwatchable”

While Salters was still on stage hosting the trophy ceremony, calls began mounting against her. Comments like “Please for the love of God, take Lisa Salters out of there, or at least make sure she has some decent questions if she has to be there. D—, generic questions where you cannot get any good answers, just generic, meaningless b——-. Ruining the moment big time” and “@espn Lisa salters needs someone to write her questions for her. Pretty bad performance,” began flooding in.

Some netizens were so frustrated that they urged the ESPN veteran to hang up her boots, “Lisa Salters needs to retire. Just a terrible question-asker.” Well, Salters did try to add some flair to her hosting, as she called Alex Caruso, who is just 31 years old, an “unc” during the interview. Of course, Caruso is the oldest player on the current Thunder squad and has previously talked about being deemed an OG by his teammates. So, it was a hilarious moment.

However, for most fans, that was not enough. Apart from calling out Lisa, netizens also fired shots at the entire ESPN crew, “ESPN has the worst pregame, worst announcers, so unsurprisingly they’ve got the worst interviewer with this Lisa Salters. Get someone better because she can’t even speak.” The focus also shifted to Malika Andrews and Co. as several viewers deemed ESPN’s coverage “unwatchable.”

Fans were even looking forward to having no NBA Countdown shows from here on because the season is over: “Just to be clear: No NBA Countdown shows after tonight, right?” Looks like everyone is tired of hearing Stephen A. Smith yell on television.

Now, sure, ESPN did make some efforts to improve its presentation. Following the massive backlash, they added digitally superimposed Larry O’Brien trophy decals on the court during games. Even the pregame player introductions were brought back on TV for the first time since 2013.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. Maybe, next time, the network will be better prepared for the big stage and not have to face the NBA World’s wrath amid one of their biggest events.