Not a great start to the tenure of the 76ers new president of basketball operations, Mike Gansey.
After replacing Darryl Morey as the new head of the Philadelphia 76ers, Gansey did a media spot on NBC Sports Philadelphia during the fifth inning of Tuesday’s 8-2 Phillies victory over the Marlins.
When he jumped on alongside 76ers head coach Nick Nurse, Phillies star Jesus Luzardo had a no-hitter going and Gansey immediately broke a cardinal rule of baseball broadcasts.
“Glad we’re out to an 8-0 start,” Gansey said to broadcaster Tom McCarthy. “No-hitter still intact.”
Sure enough, the very next pitch was a hanging changeup on the upper-left half of the plate that Javier Saoja pulled for a hit to left field.
Hilariously enough, color commentator John Kruk, who hadn’t said a word yet, knew that Gansey just jinxed it.
“Oh boy,” Kruk said as Luzardo delivered the second pitch of the fifth inning.
“Uh oh,” McCarthy added. “Mike. Mike.”
Kruk looked none-too-happy about Gansey speaking about a no-hitter as it was happening, sitting quietly with his arms crossed while looking upset with the new top 76ers executive.
Then Nurse compared it to telling a basketball player, “Don’t shoot,” and the shot goes in.
Gansey didn’t exactly ingratiate himself with the fanbase Tuesday but he can still turn that around with a strong offseason for the 76ers.
He will be tasked with figuring out how to work a roster with massive contracts divied out to Paul George and Joel Embiid.
Both of those players are injury-prone and on the wrong side of the age curve, as George is 36 and Embiid is 32.
They do have Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe to build around, but getting rid of at least one of those big contracts may be top of Gansey’s priority list this offseason.
