SportsCenter Baffles Twitter With 'Cursed', 3D Ad For NBA Finals

The NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets kicks off tonight, and to celebrate, the Twitter account for ESPN's SportsCenter has unleashed one extremely unique 3D-animation ad for the upcoming series.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO THIS 🍿#NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/y0SZ2BPdfh

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 1, 2023

This is, quite simply, a lot to take in. From 3D Nikola Jokic being animated as The Joker to depicting Jimmy Butler apparently going Super Saiyan with hair he does not currently have, the entire video seems to find the spiritual middle ground between a Source Filmmaker YTP and an advertisement for a freemium, basketball-themed mobile game.

This is hardly a typical hype reel for a championship series, which usually will show the actual highlights from the NBA playoffs using real footage of the physical human beings making spectacular plays.

Needless to say, the promo clip proved divisive on social media, as opinions on the video ranged from incredibly cursed to incredibly based.

At the time of writing, SportsCenter has not offered a much-needed explanation and/or apology for its bizarre video. Perhaps it was something they had always planned to do but didn't have the time to make it look … less like that.

The video had to be put together in less than two days, as the Heat series stretched out to seven games after the team took a 3-0 lead over the Celtics. Had they completed the sweep, perhaps SportsCenter could have made something that looks more PS5 and less WWE All Stars.