Maria Taylor to Serve As Studio Host for NBC’s NBA and WNBA Coverage

The television veteran appears to be back in professional basketball.
Maria Taylor speaks before a 2022 game between the Bills and Rams.
Maria Taylor speaks before a 2022 game between the Bills and Rams. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Four years after her departure from ESPN, Maria Taylor is back covering the NBA.

NBC is naming Taylor its lead NBA and WNBA studio host, according to a Monday afternoon report from Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. If confirmed, the assignment will take effect when both leagues return to the network's airwaves in their respective 2026 seasons.

Taylor, 38, has handled a variety of assignments for NBC since coming over from the ESPN family of networks in 2021. That includes the NFL, college football, tennis and the Olympics.

With ESPN, she worked as the host of NBA Countdown from 2019 to '21.

Her reported assignments with NBC are said to include a Sunday and Tuesday studio show with Hall of Fame guards Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter.

NBC previously aired NBA games from 1954 to '62 and 1990 to 2002, while WNBA games aired on the network from 1997 to '02.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .