The memes came fast and furious. Moments after ESPN’s Brian Windhorst concluded a passionate — and at times whacky — speech about the future of the Utah Jazz during the July 1 episode of “First Take,” sports fans were tweeting out screenshots of his quizzical face to accompany their questions about life’s biggest mysteries.
“My friend says he loves college football. Yet, he had a fall wedding. Now, why is that?” asked film, TV and podcast producer Jim Weber in his take on the meme.
“People say Zach Wilson is a bust. Yet he was the 3 time recipient of the Pepsi rookie of the week. Now why is that?” added Twitter user NY Mojo.
During the “First Take” segment, Windhorst said “Now why is that?” to build suspense as he laid out the Jazz’s latest moves. He highlighted the Royce O’Neale trade on June 30 and coach Quin Snyder’s decision to leave the team.
“Why would the Jazz, who have two stars on their roster, take a player who is one of their starters and best defensive players and trade him in a salary dumping move? ... Why did Quin Snyder walk away from that job?”
Windhorst’s ultimate point was that bigger moves were likely coming, a prediction that came true when Rudy Gobert was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves the same day the segment aired. Now that Donovan Mitchell has been traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, you can’t deny that, despite his strange presentation, Windhorst was making a lot of sense.
Windhorst argued that, this summer, Jazz CEO Danny Ainge essentially had the chance to recreate the past. He could trade away the team’s two biggest stars and enter full rebuild mode, just as he had with the Boston Celtics after he hired Brad Stevens to coach.
“What else happened the first year Brad Stevens got hired? Danny Ainge traded Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce,” Windhorst said.
Now that Mitchell has been traded, Danny Ainge deja vu is complete.