New York – ESPN’s longtime NBA host Rachel Nichols has been pulled from coverage of the sport, and her weekday show “The Jump” has been canceled, the network confirmed Wednesday.
David Roberts, ESPN’s senior vice president of production, said in a statement to GLM that the parties “mutually agreed that this approach to our coverage of the NBA was in the best interest of everyone involved.”
“Rachel is an excellent reporter, host and journalist, and we thank her for her many contributions to our NBA content,” he added.
Sports Business Journal was the first to report the news.
The unprecedented achievement of the Antetokounmpo brothers in the NBA
The news regarding Nichols is remarkable not only because she is one of the network’s best-known NBA presenters, if not in the entire sport, but also because it comes a month after comments from Nichols herself involved her. , to one of his colleagues and to ESPN in a controversy.
In July, The New York Times ran an eye-catching article reporting on the comments Nichols made about another NBA analyst, Maria Taylor.
The New York Times reported a leaked recording of a 2020 private conversation in which Nichols, who is white, says Taylor, who is black, had been chosen to direct coverage of last year’s NBA Finals by the company diversity efforts.
Nichols then apologized on the air, saying how “deeply, deeply sorry I am for disappointing those I hurt, particularly Maria Taylor.”
Taylor has since walked away from ESPN after an extension of the contract between the two parties could not be reached, according to the network.
Rachel Nichols’ Farewell
Nichols, who still has more than a year left on his contract, took a moment to thank his “The Jump” team.
“I got to create a whole show and spend five years sharing with some of my favorite people, talking about one of my favorite things,” Nichols tweeted. “A lasting thank you to our amazing producers and crew – The Jump was never built to last forever, but it sure was fun,” he added.
Nichols ended the tweet by saying, “More to come …”.
The network’s NBA coverage looks set to be revised, especially considering that ESPN announced two weeks ago that Roberts will direct the network’s NBA production.