NBA Summer League has produced some truly excellent highlights this year thanks to some well-known names and some incredible plays by guys still chasing their dreams. On Monday night in Las Vegas, Chicago Bulls rookie Noa Essengue found himself on the wrong end of a highlight as Indiana Pacers forward Johnny Furphy threw down a vicious dunk on him and some photographer captured his reaction to getting dunked on.
The Pacers posted the photo and that photo made its way to last night's SportsCenter. Upon seeing the image during the broadcast, anchors Nicole Briscoe and Ryan Smith absolutely lost it.
This poster dunk was so soul-crushing that it derailed SportsCenter. 🏀🔨📺🎙️🤣 #NBA #ESPN pic.twitter.com/t7V3Yqhbz4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 15, 2025
Briscoe collapsed on the desk. Smith tried to fight through while audibly wondering if the picture was real. Eventually Briscoe tried to continue with the show by calling Chicago Sky-Minnesota Lynx highlights through tears of joy noting, "This is hard to do right now because I just want to laugh."
Smith and Briscoe were not done there. They both took to Twitter a few minutes later to let their followers know that the photo of Essengue's face was not a photoshop.
That’s not photoshopped. https://t.co/GWbMGgoIaE
— Nicole Briscoe (@RB_Mrs) July 15, 2025
OMG this is NOT photoshopped https://t.co/nBex1Fkdjq
— Ryan Smith (@ryansmithtv) July 15, 2025
This does not bode well for the image of Essengue blowing over.
More NBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 'SportsCenter' Anchors Can Barely Finish Show After Seeing Bulls Rookie's Dunk Face.
