After controversy, ESPN adds Malika Andrews to ‘NBA Today’

As part of an ongoing effort to overhaul its NBA coverage, ESPN will launch a new daily NBA studio show this fall that will be hosted by Malika Andrews, according to two people with knowledge of the show.

The show will essentially replace Rachel Nichols’s “The Jump,” which was a staple of ESPN’S daily NBA coverage since 2016 before it was canceled amid controversy last month.

“NBA Today”will debut in October ahead of the NBA season and air from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. every weekday. Andrews will be joined by a regular panel of analysts: former NBA players Vince Carter and Kendrick Perkins, current WNBA player Chiney Ogwumike and writer Zach Lowe.

Andrews, 26, is a former NBA reporter for the Chicago Tribune and an up-and-coming NBA personality at ESPN. She will also receive a contract extension, according to the people familiar with her new show.

ESPN canceled “The Jump” last month, weeks after the New York Times published an audio recording in which Nichols, who did not realize she was being recorded, suggested in a phone call that her then-colleague Maria Taylor was replacing her as the host of NBA Finals coverage in 2020 because the network was feeling pressure about diversity.

Following the leak of the tape, Nichols was removed from her role as a sideline reporter for ABC’S coverage of the Finals and was replaced by Andrews.

ESPN is in the process of reconstructing much of its NBA coverage ahead of the upcoming season. The network installed a new executive, Dave Roberts, to oversee that programming.