The Philadelphia 76ers might just be the first team in the history of the league to get actively represented in the NBA Finals despite finishing with one of the worst team records in a single season.
Kidding aside, while the 76ers remain ingrained on their couch waiting for their turn to come this offseason, the 2025 NBA Finals will be underway in a flick. And as part of the league’s special coverage this time around — probably to cope with the loss of the TNT foursome — it is brewing something new on the media side.
The NBA has just announced that there will be player correspondents for this year’s edition of the Finals between Indiana and Oklahoma City, and that 76ers rookie Jared McCain will be one of the players the league has tapped on to provide inside access as to what could unfold on the ground in the upcoming series.
76ers star Jared McCain gets a sniff of the big 76ers dream before Joel Embiid
With this sudden development, McCain had technically overtaken Joel Embiid in that he will be able to sniff the NBA Finals dream for the franchise — something the 2023 Most Valuable Player could not even get near at.
But aside from jocular assertions, the addition of McCain to the makeshift crew is definitely a nice, if not much-needed, addition of jolt to the league’s growingly formulaic approach when it comes to covering the biggest stage. Fans and pundits alike have long clamored for something new from the league itself, and this seems to be their solution for now.
A big personality himself, especially in social media, the 76ers rookie should be more than ready to take on the mic and provide correspondence from the ground.
It remains to be seen whether McCain would be on deck for the entire series, but as can be gleaned from the league’s official announcement, he is currently tasked to cover Game 1 of the unpredictable Finals series against the Pacers and Thunder.
Jared McCain, the undisputed and runaway favorite to win the Rookie of the Year trophy before he left his meniscus and got his freshman campaign cut short, would at least give Philadelphia 76ers fans something team-related to look forward to.
But more importantly, the hope is that with this gig, he becomes exposed to a championship environment and bottles that up to use for his comeback campaign next season.