Why Was An ESPN Show Promoted On MSNBC Today?

Very awkward segment (at least to me since I'm such a media geek) earlier today on MSNBC's The Cycle. They had ESPN's Jemele Hill and Michael Smith on to give predictions and analysis for this weekend's NFL Championship games. 

Toure (one of the hosts of the show) promoted the pair as friends of his, so maybe that's how they got onto the show but it still perplexes me that they had such a long segment on the show AND got major promotion for their show after the segment finished. The Numbers Never Lie decal was also very clearly visible. Let's remember that NBC, which owns MSNBC, also owns ESPN's archrival NBCSN. 

How did the higher ups at NBC allow this to happen? It's a perfect chance for NBCSN to promote their talent on another NBC network. Maybe this was part of the recent ESPN/NBC Ryder Cup deal in which ESPN traded it's rights of the Ryder Cup to NBC in exchange for more EPL highlights on SportsCenter? Maybe part of the deal was contingent on ESPN getting more promo on NBC shows which aren't affiliated with NBC Sports? Or maybe I'm just overblowing this whole thing?

Also, considering Keith Olbermann works at ESPN now, wouldn't MSNBC want to stay as far away from ESPN as possible? Normal viewers probably didn't notice and probably don't care if I'm being frank but it's weird that an NBC News show's first option to help preview a sports segment was to call up representatives at ESPN.