‘Inside the NBA’ pokes enjoyable at Mike Vrabel-Dianna Russini controversy in graphic

ESPN’s “Inside the NBA” poked enjoyable on the Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini controversy on Sunday evening throughout playoff protection.

The broadcast featured a “Gone Fishing” section following the Boston Celtics’ exit from the playoffs after a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. The graphic featured sportscaster Bill Simmons, actors John Krasinski, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and Celtics stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum on a fishing boat

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Dianna Russini, left, and Mike Vrabel, proper, are proven in a cut up composite picture that includes Russini with an ESPN microphone and Vrabel on the Titans sideline carrying a headset. (Imagn Images)

In the suitable nook, Vrabel and Russini had been featured in a “Titanic”-esque scene with the New England Patriots head coach holding the hips of the NFL reporter.

Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley – who normally carry it with the jokes – had been left shocked.

“Who are the two people at the front?” Smith requested as he tried to bait Barkley into making a remark. “I don’t know them.”

Barkley responded, “Stop it, stop it.”

“Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on there, Tatum and Brown,” Johnson mentioned. “That’s all I see on that boat. I don’t see anything else.”

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks in the course of the 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting on the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Ariz., on March 31, 2026. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)

ESPN declined to touch upon the graphic.

The firm technically licenses the present from TNT Sports, which nonetheless produces it.

Vrabel and Russini had been caught up in a scandal final month after photographs in Page Six confirmed the 2 getting cozy in an Arizona resort in the course of the NFL’s annual assembly. Further Page Six photographs appeared to indicate Vrabel and Russini kissing in 2020.

Russini resigned from The Athletic in a letter final month.

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“I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published. When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful. In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts,” the letter learn.

“Moreover, this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept. Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to step aside now — before my current contract expires on June 30. I do so not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.”

ESPN reporter Dianna Russini seems on in the course of the NFL sport between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Sept. 16, 2018. (Mark Alberti/Icon Sportswire)

Vrabel initially known as the state of affairs “laughable,” however as extra photographs started to leak, he briefly stepped away from the Patriots to hunt counseling.

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“My previous actions don’t meet the standard that I hold myself to,” Vrabel mentioned earlier than the NFL Draft started. “My priorities are my family and this football team, in that order. And there is a balance there that I am going to create.”