ESPN reporters can tweet out picks during NBA Draft ahead of TV broadcast

After a few years with issues of reporters tweeting during drafts, the NBA will now allow writers and teams to tweet out picks before they’re announced.

Tweeting during drafts has been a topic for the NBA and NFL for years, and it looks like ESPN looking to get ahead of the fight now by allowing all reporters to tweet out results before Adam Silver announces them during the NBA Draft.

A few years ago, the NBA and ESPN started to allow reporters that weren’t on-air to tweet out NBA Draft picks, which some complained ruined the suspense of the event being broadcasted for those watching on ESPN.

Now, according to a tweet from Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch, the trend is continuing, with reporters able to tweet out picks ahead of the show with absolutely no restrictions.

The move has angered some who would like to be on social media during the big event and see people’s reactions to picks, without having to worry about spoilers on a future pick coming up. Imagine watching a show like Arrow or The Flash and wanting to see people’s reactions on Twitter as things happen, but not wanting to know what the end of the next scene is. Now, that issue has come to the basketball world.

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The NFL has banned reporters tipping off picks before they’re announced a couple of times over the last five years, including bans in 2013 and 2015. The bans were reportedly done because fans weren’t reacting positively to having picks spoiled while they watch.

If you’re looking for a spoiler-free environment on draft night on Thursday, you may want to either unfollow pretty much every NBA reporter you follow on social media, or just straight up delete your Twitter and Facebook accounts all together.