Who is Trish Christakis? Viral Miami Heat reporter piques fan interest after commenting on Dave Portnoy’s post

During the Miami Heat's first-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, sideline reporter Trish Christakis went viral after catching the eye of NBA fans around the league.

Now, amid her newfound popularity, Christakis has caught the attention of Barstool Sports fans as well after responding to a post about Barstool founder Dave Portnoy's viral dog, Miss Peaches.

In response to a post of Portnoy's dog alongside a case of Lucky One lemonade, a new vodka lemonade drink from the makers of High Noon, with whom Barstool has long been partnered, Christakis wrote:

"Peachy!!!! I need to do a follow up story on her now."

The situation comes on the heels of Christakis reporting on Portnoy and Miss Peaches for CBS News Miami in May 2024. She also posted it on Instagram:

Given that Christakis had already gone viral after catching the attention of Miami Heat fans, now more NBA fans are wondering, "Who is Trish Christakis?"

The Miami Heat sideline reporter has been with CBS Miami since 2022. According to her LinkedIn profile, before joining the network, she attended college at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a degree in journalism.

Despite growing up in the Chicagoland area, Christakis, who has a Greek flag in her Instagram bio, indicative of her Hellenic roots, made the transition to Miami, where her career has taken off.

According to her CBS News bio, she's covered the NBA Finals, the Chicago Cubs, the Stanley Cup Finals, the March Madness tournament, Lionel Messi and the MLB draft. She started out at NBC affiliate WEEK-TV before working at Spectrum News Charlotte.

Christakis was born on June 25, 1993, and also played soccer, noting in an Instagram post that she played the sport all her life and dreamed about going pro. In her bio on the social media site, she calls herself a "wannabe USWNT forward." Apart from soccer, she loves being on the water and volunteering at animal shelters.

Looking at the viral post from Trish Christakis that caught the attention of NBA fans

For Miami Heat fans, the team's first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers was incredibly disappointing. Despite fighting its way through the play-in tournament, the team wound up getting swept in four games.

After Monday's 138-83 loss in Game 4, Trish Christakis shared a picture on X, formerly known as Twitter, of her handling sideline reporter duties, along with the caption:

"Year 3! What a season for the Miami Heat, thankful. Thank you, Aaron Visions for snapping this pic during my last live shot this season!"

The post has received over 11 million views, along with 120,000 likes.

The post was then picked up by Daily Loud, with the outlet's post receiving another six million views and 65,000 likes.

Currently, she also has 61.5K followers on X and another 44.4K followers on Instagram.