Dirk Nowitzki talking while muted on NBA Draft broadcast makes him just like us

[ASFN Admin]

At this point, in the era of remote work, many of us have likely found ourselves on mute at an awkward time during our respective workdays. You're in the middle of an important meeting, you launch into a diatribe you just spent the last hour preparing for, then everyone has to tell you that "YOU'RE MUTED" just a few sentences in. How embarrassing, but it's an all-too-common phenomenon in this day and age.

Little did we know that it could happen to NBA legends like Dirk Nowitzki, too.

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When the ESPN NBA Draft broadcast cut to Nowitzki to share his prerecorded words of encouragement for new Charlotte Hornets draft pick Hannes Steinbach, a fellow native of Würzburg, Germany, he was unfortunately muted. The only difference between this Nowitzki snafu and any of us at work was that his happened in front of a national viewing audience at home.

Woof:

The Broadcast GLITCHED and nobody could hear what NBA LEGEND Dirk Nowitzki said to Hannes Steinbach#NBA#NBADraft#Hornets#ProtectTheHive#HiveMentalitypic.twitter.com/Z0OnsiuZ9k

— Dom (@ZeroChillSports) June 24, 2026

You'd think that if you wanted to center a legend's words for a young player on your broadcast, you would ensure they weren't muted while speaking. ESPN did apologize for the Nowitzki mishap, but everyone will assuredly still remember the glaring mistake.

What did Dirk Nowitzki say to Hannes Steinbach in the muted video?​

Here's what we wrote on the story before the draft began:

Steinbach said recently he spoke to Nowitzki once before the draft, and he gave him a sound piece of advice.

"He told me to enjoy the process," Steinbach told reporters at the Golden State Warriors' facility. "It's a stressful process, but it's a thing you go through one time so just stay enjoying it."

Well, that would've been a nice thing to hear on TV!

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Dirk Nowitzki was tragically muted on NBA Draft broadcast during cool moment

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