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On July 6th, 2021, an article from The Wrap entitled “ESPN Benches Rachel Nichols for NBA Finals Game Coverage After Her Maria Taylor Comments” was incorrectly linked to the page and photo of actress Rachel Nichols (I) instead of to the page of the person referenced in the article, ESPN commentator Rachel Nichols (II). This has been corrected. We regret this error.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has weighed in on the ESPN dustup involving two of the sports giant’s on-air NBA reporters and anchors, Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor. On Tuesday, ESPN said that Nichols would not be handling sideline reporting duties for the NBA Finals (instead the job would go to Malika Andrews) but that she would continue to host her afternoon show The Jump.

“It’s disheartening,” Silver said during a press conference tied to the start of the NBA Finals, adding that the only information he had about the matter was from what he had read in The New York Times and elsewhere. “I think ...

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has weighed in on the ESPN dustup involving two of the sports giant’s on-air NBA reporters and anchors, Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor. On Tuesday, ESPN said that Nichols would not be handling sideline reporting duties for the NBA Finals (instead the job would go to Malika Andrews) but that she would continue to host her afternoon show The Jump.

“It’s disheartening,” Silver said during a press conference tied to the start of the NBA Finals, adding that the only information he had about the matter was from what he had read in The New York Times and elsewhere. “I think ...

Shortly before tip off of the first game of the 2021 NBA Finals, league commissioner addressed the turmoil at one of the league’s premiere TV partners, ESPN, surrounding hosts Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor.

Asked by reporters about the controversy over Nichols leaked comments regarding ESPN and Taylor, Silver called the situation “disheartening.”

“I think it’s particularly unfortunate that two women in the industry are pitted against each other,” he continued. “I know that both Rachel and Maria are terrific at what they do. They work extraordinarily hard.”

The usually-politic Silver also added a more pointed remark seemingly directed at the reaction to Nichols’ comments about Taylor saying that “we should be judging people by the larger context of their body of work and who they are and what we know about them.”

The popular Silver saw the league through a pandemic, a playoff bubble and, in the middle of that,...

On the day of the start of the NBA Finals, ESPN’s premiere daily NBA show was missing from the network’s schedule. Instead, according to the New York Post, viewers who tuned in on Tuesday found the two-man team of Jalen & Jacoby, who are usually The Jump‘s lead-in. A subsequent Jump schedule spot was filled by the network’s Highly Questionable.

According to Post media columnist Andrew Marchand, “the plan is to have it on tomorrow.”

News: ESPN canceled Rachel Nichols' The Jump for today, The Post has learned.

The plan is to have it on tomorrow.

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 6, 2021

The scheduling changes came just minutes after ESPN announced Tuesday that Maria Taylor will be hosting the network’s pregame and halftime shows for the NBA Finals. Those duties have been at the center of a controversy involving comments made by Rachel Nichols, host of The Jump,...

Updated, 10:30 a.m: After three days of turmoil, ESPN announced Tuesday that Maria Taylor will be hosting the network’s pregame and halftime shows for the NBA Finals. Those duties have been at the center of a controversy involving comments made by Rachel Nichols, host of ESPN’s The Jump, about Taylor potentially assuming that role.

ESPN also said that Nichols no longer will be the network’s sideline reporter for the Finals, a position she held last year and during big games this season. That role will go to the network’s NBA reporter, Malika Andrews.

Nichols, who is white, was heard on a video expressing exasperation over Taylor, who is Black, being given NBA Finals hosting duties last year. The private comments were captured by a live internal feed and became the basis for a New York Times story this weekend.

The Jump host apologized Monday, and...

Rachel Nichols will not be suiting up as sideline reporter for this year’s NBA Finals, in the wake of her year-old comments about ESPN colleague Maria Taylor coming to light.

Malika Andrews will instead serve as sideline reporter for the championship series.

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Nichols will, however, continue to host The Jump, ESPN’s weekday NBA show, during the NBA Finals, alongside a cast of analysts and reporters including Richard Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins.

In July 2020, during...

ESPN had to devise a new game plan for the NBA Finals.

The Disney-owned sports-media giant said it would move its veteran basketball reporter Rachel Nichols off sideline duties for the NBA Finals, slated to be broadcast tonight on ABC and feature the Milwaukee Bucks taking on the Phoenix Suns, and utilize Malika Andrews instead as it grapples with new scrutiny over how it handled a bizarre leak of Nichols on video appearing to disparage last year’s decision to use Maria Taylor in the 2020 Finals production.

“We believe this is best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals. Rachel will continue to host ‘The Jump,” ESPN said in a statement Tuesday, referring to its daily basketball-news program.

Executives at the sports outlet no doubt hope the decision will put to rest a period of inner discord. In July of last year, Nichols...

Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly displayed a photo of actress Rachel Nichols (I) and linked to her page. This has now been corrected. We regret this error.

ESPN has benched Rachel Nichols for its coverage of the NBA Finals, following the uproar for her comments regarding Maria Taylor in 2020, where she suggested Taylor was picked over her to cover last year’s NBA Finals because of her race.

Malika Andrews will serve as the sideline reporter during the 2021 Finals; Nichols had held that position throughout the playoffs as part of ESPN’s top broadcast team with Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. Nichols will still host her daily ESPN show “The Jump” on-site during the series.

Taylor will host the pre-game and halftime studio coverage, as she’s done all postseason. The NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns tip off Tuesday night from Phoenix on ABC.

“We believe this is best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals. Rachel will continue to host ‘The Jump,...

ESPN says that Malika Andrews will be the sideline reporter for its coverage of the NBA Finals, which tip off tonight between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns.

Andrews will be replacing Rachel Nichols, who has long been ESPN’s primary sideline reporter and was initially slated to serve in that role for this year’s NBA Finals.

“We believe this is the best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals,” ESPN said in a statement. “Rachel will continue to host The Jump [her daily NBA show on ESPN 2].”

The decision came after Nichols ...

ESPN says that Malika Andrews will be the sideline reporter for its coverage of the NBA Finals, which tip off tonight between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns.

Andrews will be replacing Rachel Nichols, who has long been ESPN’s primary sideline reporter and was initially slated to serve in that role for this year’s NBA Finals.

“We believe this is the best decision for all concerned in order to keep the focus on the NBA Finals,” ESPN said in a statement. “Rachel will continue to host The Jump [her daily NBA show on ESPN 2].”

The decision came after Nichols ...

Rachel Nichols typically uses the opening moments of the ESPN basketball program, “The Jump,” to talk about the latest news in the NBA. On Monday, she used it to address a growing story that has her at the center.

In July of last year, Nichols was caught on video speaking to representatives of LeBron James about ESPN’s decision to have Maria Taylor host “NBA Countdown” during 2020’s NBA Finals. Her comments were recorded by a video camera she had left on and uploaded into ESPN’s system, where the footage was discovered and distributed by an employee. Nichols was frustrated that she hadn’t gotten the role, and suggested that ESPN’s interest in paying more attention to diversity was a factor in the decision.

Her comments leaked and have continued to generate disruption at the Disney-owned sports-media giant. In a story published Sunday, the New York Times reported that Taylor,...

Rachel Nichols addressed the controversy from The New York Times’ report regarding a leaked conversation the ESPN reporter had in 2020 in which she suggested Maria Taylor was picked over her to cover the NBA Finals because of her race.

Nichols opened her ESPN show “The Jump” on Monday by saying, although she didn’t want to make herself the story, she brought up the elephant in the room. “But I also don’t want to let this moment pass without saying how much I respect, how much I value our colleagues here at ESPN. How deeply, deeply sorry I am for disappointing those I hurt, particularly Maria Taylor, and how grateful I am to be a part of this team.”

Nichols has been the main sideline reporter for ESPN/ABC’s coverage, though ESPN has not officially announced reporting assignments for the NBA Finals, which tip off Tuesday night from Phoenix.

Leaked comments made last year by ESPN host Rachel Nichols about the network’s decision to have Black colleague Maria Taylor host the NBA Finals are still making waves, as The New York Times reports that several of the company’s top NBA analysts had considered boycotting this year’s playoffs over how ESPN handled the situation.

In July 2020, a tape leaked of a conversation between Nichols, LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul and James’ advisor Adam Mendelsohn. In the conversation — which was accidentally recorded and uploaded to ESPN’s servers because Nichols forgot to turn her video camera off — Nichols expressed frustration that Taylor had been chosen over her to host “NBA Countdown” during last year’s NBA Finals, suggesting that the network made the decision because it was “feeling pressure” on diversity.

“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols...

“NBA on TNT” helped give the WarnerMedia-owned network a big lift over its competitors at this year’s 42nd Annual Sports Emmys. Announced late Tuesday, this year TNT won the most Sports Emmys of any single outlet, with 7 — followed closely by ESPN, which earned six.

If corporate entities are combined, then the ESPN triumvirate of ESPN, ESPN Plus and ESPN Deportes actually landed the most wins, with a total of nine.

Winners were announced in 46 categories by the National Academy of TV Arts and Sciences in a virtual ceremony on Tuesday night, including Outstanding Live Sports Special, Live Sports Series and Playoff Coverage, three Documentary categories, Outstanding Play-by-Play Announcer, Studio Host, and Emerging On-Air Talent, among others.

Individual sports personality winners included TNT’s Ernie Johnson as studio host; Fox’s Joe Buck for play-by-play, CBS’ Nate Burleson for studio analyst; Fox’s John Smoltz for sports event analyst...

TNT edged ESPN for the most trophies at the 42nd annual Sports Emmy Awards, which were handed out tonight in a livestreamed virtual ceremony. The Worldwide Leader turned the tables on Turner Sports for the most wins by network group, however.

See the list of wins by network and network group here and wins by program below or here.

TNT scored seven statuettes to ESPN’s six, after the latter came into the night with a dominant 51 nominations. FS1 was third with five wins, NFL Network had four and a half-dozen nets tied with three apiece. ESPN won the network group race with nine trophies to Turner’s seven, with Fox Sports Media Group next with five.

Seven programs earned two nods apiece to lead that race: NBA on TNT, the NFL Wild Card Game on Nickelodeon, NFL Network’s NFL 360, HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Netflix’s Rising Phoenix,...

The NHL and its players have agreed on a tentative start date for what would have been its 2020-21 season. Six days after crowning the Tampa Bay Lightning as Stanley Cup champion of its coronavirus-shortened campaign, the league and the NHL Players’ Association are targeting January 1 to start the new season.

The league had been looking at December 1 as a start date after completing its virus-interrupted 2019-20 season in a two-city “bubble.” No word yet as to whether fans will be allowed to attend games. A start date for training camps also remains in flux.

“We really haven’t focused precisely on what we’re going to be doing next season,” Commissioner Gary Bettman said on NHL Network today. “I think it’s fairly clear that while December 1 has always been a notional date, we’re focused on the fact that we’re really looking now at January 1 to start the season up.

With production grinding to a halt in the face of the novel coronavirus, the entertainment industry has found itself navigating uncharted territory. To offer a better sense for how, The Hollywood Reporter is running a regular series that focuses on how Hollywood's top writers, actors, directors, executives and others are living and working in these challenging times.

Rachel Nichols, ESPN reporter and host of NBA talk show The Jump, is, like many Americans, working from home these days — except in her case, that now means being in charge of her own filming and production as well. While she juggles interviewing ...

Nine months after Rachel Nichols joined CNN to host a new sports-focused show, “Unguarded With Rachel Nichols” is set to premiere on Friday at 10:30 p.m. on CNN and CNN International. The weekly half-hour show will focus on broader narratives in sports news rather than the “Xs and Os” that dominate hardcore sports shows. Nichols spoke with TheWrap about “Unguarded,” CNN and how Jeff Zucker used pancakes to lure her to the network. TheWrap: Are you excited for the show to start? Rachel Nichols: Absolutely! I signed on with the Turner company overall at the very end of January and the.

Espn reporter Rachel Nichols is leaving to work for CNN and Turner Sports.

The companies announced Thursday that Nichols will anchor a new weekend CNN sports program beginning later this year, and will report on a wide range of sports.

Nichols’ hiring comes as new CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker puts his stamp on the struggling U.S. news channel, which he’s promised to make more “vibrant and exciting.”

Nichols will be an important part of expanding CNN’s programming, the former NBC Universal chief said Thursday.

Nichols, who worked at Espn for nine years, said she “couldn’t...