Malika Andrews Taking on Expanded Role at ESPN for NBA Season

Malika Andrews and the rest of the NBA Today crew are poised to take on another role at ESPN this upcoming NBA season. 

The network announced Thursday that Andrews will serve as the host for NBA Countdown on Wednesdays during the 2022–23 campaign. She’ll be joined by analysts from NBA Today including Richard Jefferson, Chiney Ogwumike and Kendrick Perkins, along with senior insider Adrian Wojnarowski. 

“It’s kind of the same feel, vibe and chemistry with the same people who I get to work alongside every day. Just in a different time slot,” Andrews said, per the AP. 

Andrews filled in for host Mike Greenberg on a number of occasions last season, while continuing her role as a sideline reporter. She also expanded her presence at the network by hosting ESPN’s coverage of the NBA draft and NBA draft lottery this offseason.

Andrews first rose to prominence as a reporter in the NBA’s playoff bubble in 2020. By the following year, she worked as the sideline reporter during the 2021 NBA Finals and began as the host of ESPN’s afternoon NBA whip-around show.

NBA Today, which replaced Rachel Nichols’s The Jump, saw an 8% increase in ratings compared to last year this September. The show’s coverage of the NBA Summer League and free agency in July was the most watched in five years in the afternoon time slot.

“I’m still learning to be the best host I can be. I still watch every show, taking notes and looking at how I can be better,” Andrews told the AP. “You can’t manufacture chemistry in a bottle and say, ‘OK, we’re going to add one and two, and all of a sudden that spits out chemistry on the other side.’ I’ve been colleagues with Richard, Chiney and Kendrick for years, but we didn’t work together every day like we do now. I do think going into Year Two, that is going to help as well.”

Andrews and the rest of the NBA Today crew can be seen on NBA Countdown on Wednesdays, starting in November this season. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET.

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