Why ESPN bears blame for Megan Thee Stallion’s Rockets gaffe

Following Megan Thee Stallion’s lack of knowledge of Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, here’s why ESPN bears the blame.

In case you missed it, Houston artist Megan Thee Stallion appeared on ESPN’s First Take earlier in the week to talk about her new album Suga, breaking barriers in the hip-hop industry, and the Houston Rockets. Megan is from Houston, so it was expected that she was going to be asked questions about the Rockets.

Not to mention the fact that Max Kellerman, who was once a rapper himself, is one of the biggest doubters of Rockets guard James Harden. This was on display during this episode as well, as Kellerman mentioned Harden’s failures in the playoffs, which is an inaccurate take.

Megan was either unprepared or simply not knowledgeable enough to speak about the Rockets, which prevented her ability to counter the flawed statements and negativity that was being thrown in the direction of the Rockets. In fact, the bulk of the segment was about the music industry, which left many wondering why she was even on the show.

After all, it is a sports show. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see the segment, now is the perfect time.

Although the segment was only seven minutes, there was one thing that stood out to essentially everyone who watched it. Around the 5:29 mark, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith asked her how the city of Houston feels about Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, and her response was “who?”.

This wasn’t Megan trolling, she simply didn’t know who he was. It seems like a bad look for Megan considering that she was expected to speak as if she were an ambassador of Houston sports, but it’s hard to understand why she would have even been asked this question.

Megan had just stated that she hasn’t met Russell Westbrook, so it’s quite intriguing that ESPN would ask her about Mike D’Antoni shortly afterwards. While it may seem odd that she didn’t know MDA, we don’t know how much of the Houston Rockets she actually watches, considering how she had just stated that she’s a college student. Not only that, we know she spends a lot of time on the road traveling for shows, as that’s the life of an artist.

After all, she didn’t have any statistics or analytical responses to their questions, and ESPN presented five opportunities for her to do so before asking about D’Antoni. It seems odd to dedicated Houston Rockets fans that someone repping Houston wouldn’t know the Rockets coach, but who ever said she was a dedicated Rockets fan?

It’s not like we see her courtside at Rockets games frequently, a la Travis Scott. And it’s not like we see her frequently post on social media about the Rockets either.

She only stated that she’s met Harden several times, and we don’t even know if she even met him at a Rockets game. So after she had already proven to be unknowledgeable of the Rockets, why would they have asked her about D’Antoni?

Not only that, why did they have had her on First Take in the first place? And why would a seasoned reporter like Stephen A. Smith expect for one person to be able to speak on behalf of the third-largest city in America? It’s not like everyone will ever agree on the same viewpoint anyways.

Although it seems strange that she didn’t know MDA, the reality is the First Take crew could probably have picked a better guest if they wanted those specific questions answered. And why didn’t they pick up on the fact that she wasn’t the right person to answer those questions, and simply stop asking them? They had already fulfilled their Rockets’ requirement so they should have shifted gears to her new album, which is what they eventually ended up doing anyways.

And they should have known better than to have asked her that specific question considering how the segment had gone up to that point. After all, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had just appeared on FS1’s First Things First, so he would have been a better guest if they wanted those particular questions asked.

Sure, it was obvious that Megan wasn’t prepared, but it was more of a bad look for the First Take crew than it was for her.