Goga Bitadze identifies himself in streamer IShowSpeed’s old photograph

A Cristiano Ronaldo superfan posted a picture with popular streamer IShowSpeed and Goga Bitadze, whose name he couldn't recollect

Goga Bitadze identifies himself in streamer IShowSpeed’s old photograph

Goga Bitadze

A Cristiano Ronaldo superfan posted a picture with popular streamer IShowSpeed and an NBA player whose name he couldn’t recollect. The fan, whose X handle goes by @ronaldobetter07, posted his picture with Speed and the unidentified NBA player to ask the internet to identity him. Goga Bitadze seems to have run into the post a day after the initial post, identifying himself as the player in question with a tweet.

This picture was taken by the CR7 superfan at the age of 14. He’s also the same age as IShowSpeed himself in the same photo, corresponding to a date of 2019 or 2020. This was a time when Bitadze was a rookie in the league and didn’t have major playing minutes for the Indiana Pacers.

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Bitadze didn’t exactly have a roaring start to his NBA career. Thrust onto a team with Myles Turner as the starting center, Bitadze found playing time hard to come by in a competitive Pacers roster with a lot of frontcourt depth. He averaged 8.7 minutes per game through 54 appearances during his rookie year, which was probably why Speed and ronaldobetter07 were unable to identify him.

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The Georgian center has since gone on to earn a name for himself as one of the best backup centers in the NBA. Bitadze has played a major role on the Orlando Magic ever since joining the team in 2023. He’s grown into a player capable of having the same impact as starting center Wendell Carter Jr. Bitadze’s 3-point range as a center makes him a valuable component of a frontcourt that has been riddled with injuries over the past few seasons.

The Orlando Magic setup has allowed Bitadze to come into his own over the past two seasons. After being a bit-part player in Indianapolis, Bitadze has settled into NBA life and would be a much-vaunted backup center in times to come.

What is the Orlando Magic’s outlook for the 2025 NBA playoffs?

The Magic are currently trying to reintegrate a frontcourt studded with length and talent all around. Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Jonathan Isaac, Wendell Carter Jr and Moe Wagner are all players who would be starters on a lot of NBA teams – Banchero is already an All-Star, while Franz Wagner has signed a mammoth extension over the course of summer 2024.

However, due to injuries and constant absences through the months of December and January, the Magic have fallen off schedule to become dark horses capable of causing an upset or two in the playoffs. The team returned to the postseason after a 3-year drought last year, but were knocked out by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a grueling 7-game series.

Currently seeded 8th and 5 games under .500 at 32-37, Orlando are scheduled for a renewal of their rivalry with the Cavs in the playoffs if they qualify through the play-in tournament. Although it was a close series last year, the Cavs have seen Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and Ty Jerome take massive strides in 2024-25. They have also been reinforced on the wing by trading for De’Andre Hunter.

Orlando would be big underdogs in this prospective series, although they definitely have the wherewithal to make it another dogfight like their 2024 faceoff. They will definitely miss the likes of Jalen Suggs (out with knee injury) and Markelle Fultz, whose size bothered the Cavaliers’ undersized backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Garland last year.