Rising ESPN reporter provides NBA takeaways
National TV show host. Emmy Award winner.
Inspiration to women of all colors. And she’s just 28 years old. Malika Andrews has become one of the most recognizable sports media personalities in the country.
Since joining ESPN in 2018, the talented Andrews has gone from being an online NBA reporter to hosting “NBA Today,” ESPN’s weekday NBA studio show – and doing State Farm commercials.
USA TODAY recently caught up with Andrews to talk about travel tips, her meteoric rise, NBA postseason takeaways, major WNBA storylines and the craziest answer she has received doing a live interview. Her answers were lightly edited for clarity.
These NBA playoffs have been crazy. What’s been your biggest takeaways?
MA: “That I should stop making predictions (laughs). I end up looking silly. I need to say to the world that (Kendrick
Perkins) was right and I was wrong. At the (Feb. 9 NBA) trade deadline, this man was high on the Los Angeles Lakers and I said, ‘Yeah, they’re going to be better, but I don’t know,’ and he had them going to the (Western) Conference finals and I did not. He was right and I was wrong and I own that. There’s a reason he’s an NBA champion and I facilitate the conversations with NBA champions.”
Andrews then acknowledged the “individual excellence” that has been on display in the playoffs.
MA: “We talk so much about parity and how great that is for the league and we’re certainly seeing that with teams, but the individual excellence we have seen in these playoffs. I know he doesn’t want to be called ‘Playoff Jimmy,’ but the impressive, dominant, ‘where has this been all regular season, this is why the playoffs (matter)’ and the best excellence of Jimmy Butler. The sort of causal excellence, if you will, of Nikola Jokic. You look up and he has a triple-double and you don’t even realize it and he’s throwing these outlet passes that are absolutely insane.”
“Like (Steph Curry’s) 50-point performance (in Game 7 at Sacramento). Jay
son Tatum’s 51-point performance (in Game 7 versus Philadelphia). I know it’s a culmination of what we’ve seen in the league over the last couple of years. This offensive explosion, we’ve covered it on ‘NBA Today,’ but to see that in the playoffs has been just delightful. New faces, new players, new people on the stage alongside the Stephs, the LeBrons. I know for many fans for many years, the feeling was, basically, LeBron and Steph just had reservations at the Finals and it was just a matter of what appetizers you all ordered to get there, but I’m enjoying this. I’m enjoying the individual delights and surprises along the way.
“The Miami Heat, the eighth-seeded Miami Heat have a legitimate chance. I’m not betting against Jimmy. Are you? That, to me, has just been great and what makes it fun.”
The WNBA season has started. Caught your interview with league Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. You’ve got Brittney Griner making her return, Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon’s suspension and talent in droves in the league. What are your major storylines going into the season?
MA: “There are four big storylines that I wanted to talk with (Engelbert) about. The sort of explosion of super teams between the Liberty (having Breanna Stewart) and the Aces (adding Candace Parker) and what that means to the league and how good that is for the league. I think we are at a time where there is just so much talent. I listened to Mark (Jackson), Mike (Breen) and Jeff (Van Gundy) on the (Game 2 Lakers-Nuggets) broadcast. It’s the 27th year (for the WNBA) and where the league is now. They kind of have all the building blocks. They have superstars, they have super teams, they have rivalries. This is the time to buy stock in the W. This is the time. If you haven’t already, you’re actually already behind the 8-ball, but this is the time. This is going to be one of those years that has everything. I’m really looking forward to that.”
Andrews then talked about Griner making her return after being detained in Russia for about 10 months and the WNBA suspending Hammon for two games without pay after an investigation into allegations a player was bullied for being pregnant.
MA: “I worked with Becky. I have nothing but wonderful experiences learning about the game through her eyes and the barriers that she has pushed forward and down so that people like me can have a seat at the table. One thing that I think was important that the commissioner hit on in our interview was just that in a workplace with women, built on the backs of women, there are conversations that need to be had about respect that doesn’t necessarily have to take place in the same way in workforces that look different than in the W. They did an independent investigation with an independent law firm. I thought that was important that was underscored by the commissioner something that all of us can take away from is that piece of respect.
“The other two storylines are one, the fact that the W is one of the hardest professional sports leagues to get to have a long career in because of the limited rosters and because of the limited teams. We’ve seen so many high-profile bigname players cut from rosters in recent weeks and that’s underscored this need to have more opportunity. That goes back to what I said that this is the time to buy stock in the WNBA. Whether it’s expanded rosters. Whether it’s adding teams. Those things just don’t happen overnight, but that’s what I hope the future holds for the W just because there’s too much talent to let the No. 1 pick from two years ago not be on a roster.”
Charli Collier, the top overall pick in the 2021 draft, was waived by the Dallas Wings last week.
MA: “It’s a little bit mindboggling.
We’ve seen No. 1 picks in the NBA have immense struggles for many years and some of those high picks, sure after a couple of years, they aren’t in the league anymore, but some of them are because they had the opportunity and the flexibility to be able to foot the bill while they were recovered or got the help or whatever it is that they needed. Markelle Fultz is the perfect example and a wonderful story. Freaking Joel Embiid didn’t play for the first two years of his career, but there’s an infrastructure there to support that and there’s not that infrastructure there yet in the WNBA and that’s my hope. That infrastructure comes.”
Craziest answer you’ve received while doing a live interview?
MA: “I’ve had my fair share of moments. Patrick Beverley showing up in a Versace robe last year the day after he hit that shot for the Timberwolves (against the Clippers in the 2022 NBA play-in tournament) and he jumped on the scorer’s table. He came on the show the next day just wearing the Versace robe, matching sandals, and we’re like, ‘When you’d know you’d hit that shot’ and he’s like, ‘When I woke up.’ Now everyone says, ‘When I woke up.’ The whole image of he’s in this robe. The producer gets in my ear, you can’t see it, but he says, ‘Just wait until to see what Pat Bev’s fit is today’ and I was like, oh I can’t wait. I’ve had my fair share of those type of moments.”
Andrews noted her “I’m fine in the West” interview with Ja Morant, whose NBA future is uncertain after being captured on camera having a gun twice. The Grizzlies have suspended him from team activities as the NBA investigates.
MA: “I hope that Ja gets whatever support he needs right now because he is so much fun to watch play and to cover. I have enjoyed every interaction that we have had. So, I hope he sorts through whatever is going on with him right now and it’s a much more layered and complicated discussion J.J. Redick said on ‘First Take,’ and I totally agree with that, but he’s always fun.”
Then on a lighter note, Andrews talked about an interview with T-Wolves All-Star Anthony Edwards that involved eating Flamin’ Hot Cheetos chips.
MA: “I told him that I never had them and he eats them by the bag. He’s like, ‘You’ve got to put your full hand in the bag. No napkins. This is a finger food.’ Those type of answers have always made me go, this is fun, and this is why we do this. As much as we have responsibilities to those serious stories, I’ve taken a pie, a literal pie, from Richard Jefferson. We’ve pied each other in the face.”