ESPN personality surprisingly leaves Boston Celtics off top contenders list

ESPN personalities are known to have outrageous takes on their various shows. On Tuesday morning, Chris Russo had an outlandish take where he listed his top five championship contenders and surprisingly omitted the Boston Celtics.

This list is truly hilarious, as Russo put the Sacramento Kings and Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of the Celtics. The Kings and Thunder are both inexperienced teams that are nowhere close to the Cs level.

That’s embarrassing because the Celtics are a clear favorite to win the title next year.

Leaving the Boston Celtics off a top 2023-24 contenders list is unacceptable

Even though the Celtics have flaws and have failed in big moments over the past few years, they have shown that they will most likely be in the Conference Finals every year. The fact that the Cs have been in the late rounds of the playoffs and carry experience is the main reason why they should be on this list.

Another huge reason why leaving the Boston Celtics off this list is a joke is that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are a top-three duo in the NBA. Boston has two top 20 players on their roster, and Tatum is arguably in the top five.

The list from Russo ultimately speaks to how far sports media has fallen, especially on ESPN. The content that they continue to put out does a disservice to the everyday sports fan. This list from Russo is a prime example of this because it feels like there is bias involved in his decision.

And ESPN isn’t a dedicated fansite either. There’s more objectivity on any given team’s blog than there is on the primary corporate sports media giant in the United States.

Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how this list looks a year from now — and figure out just how far off Russo’s pick ended up being.