TNT’s Inside the NBA
Thanks to the leadership of iconic Turner Sports voice and five-time Emmy Award winner Ernie Johnson, and the NBA star power of Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and Charles Barkley, Inside the NBA is one of the highest-rated shows on cable. The studio show is known for its entertaining style and unfiltered commentary. The show has shined for more than 30-years with undeniable chemistry that has illuminated the show into a cultural phenomenon. Sometimes the show dives deeper than basketball which leads to powerful on-air discussions on all sorts of topics.
All The Smoke Podcast
All The Smoke is the best of several player and former player-led podcasts. The weekly podcast series, hosted by Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, features the brash and unapologetic NBA champions, delivers authentic, unfiltered perspective on the most polarizing topics in and around the NBA, the game of basketball, including culture, social justice, politics, music and more. New episodes drop every Thursday.
Rachel Nichols & The Jump
The Jump was created and hosted by Rachel Nichols. Nichols created the one-of-a-kind studio show for ESPN, and the Emmy Award winner had the best of the best from the NBA past and present grace the studio set and lead the NBA discussion of the day. Celebrated for her ability to lead fun discussions while also asking tough questions, Nichols started conversations at the anchor desk, on location, and in the bubble, where America watched and fell in love with her dogged reporting style. Of note, Rachel Nichols used her platform to draw attention to Milwaukee Bucks playoff boycott to protest police brutality, anti-gay laws in North Carolina and to the San Antonio Spurs making Becky Harmon the league’s first full-time female assistant coach. Sports Illustrated has called her “the most impactful and prominent female sports journalist.” She is one of the most impactful and prominent sports journalists, regardless of gender.
Stephen A. Smith
Stephen A. Smith is a featured commentator on ESPN’s First Take weekdays. They discuss and debate the sports topics of the day. He is also an analyst on NBA Countdown, ESPN and ABC’s long standing NBA pregame show. Smith leads several SportsCenter specials throughout the year. He previously hosted a weekly NBA pregame show on Wednesdays during the NBA season, SportsCenter with Stephen A. Smith. Smith is a regular contributor across the network’s studio programming surrounding marquee events, but he made his name covering the NBA. In January 2021, Smith debuted Stephen A’s World on ESPN+
Adrian Wojnarowski
Do you know what a Woj Bomb is? You should if you follow the NBA. Wojnarowski, is a Sr. NBA Insider. His tweets ring bells. Recognized with transforming NBA breaking news and reporting across the past decade-plus, Woj is central to ESPN’s multimedia coverage of the NBA throughout the year. He covers the league, its teams, players, trade deadline, free agency, the NBA Draft, the NBA Summer League and more. His reporting, insights and analysis appear on ESPN.com and in the ESPN app, featured on SportsCenter, NBA Countdown, Get Up, Outside the Lines and other programs. He hosts the Woj Pod, which regularly delivers the biggest stars and newsmakers in the NBA. Wojnarowski also hosts “The Woj Report” on ESPN’s Youtube page.
Doris Burke
Doris Burke is a breath of fresh air. She is making it less of an anomaly for women to talk circles around men in sports. Burke is a Hall of Fame broadcaster and one of the leading national NBA commentators. She started covering basketball at ESPN in 1991. She is the first woman to become a game analyst for the NBA Finals. Prior to that, she was the first woman to become a national NBA game analyst. She earned the Curt Gowdy Media Award in 2018. During her ESPN tenure, she has served as a top commentator on several significant ESPN properties, including the NBA, women’s and men’s college basketball and the WNBA. She also served as the lead sideline reporter for the NBA Finals on ABC.
Mike Breen
Mike Breen is the signature voice of the NBA. He is the lead play-by-play announcer for New York Knicks telecasts on MSG Network alongside courtside partner, Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier. The duo first started calling Knicks games together on the radio in 1991 and have been part of MSG Network’s telecasts since 1998. But he is more widely known for his work on ABC and ESPN as the lead national play-caller for the NBA, including the NBA Finals. When he says, “Bang” you know someone has nailed a timely three pointer.
Brian Windhorst
Brian Windhorst covers the NBA for ESPN. You can find him in arenas, studios, and airplanes. He rose to fame covering Lebron James. The two-time New York Times bestselling author started covering the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003. He joined ESPN in 2010 when Lebron James took his talents to South Beach. He was a regular guest contributor on Rachel Nichol’s The Jump. The Senior NBA Writer regularly appears on multiple ESPN platforms including SportsCenter, Get Up, First Take, The Jump, and Hoop Streams. Windy is the host of the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast where he and a team on NBA Insiders sort out life in and around the NBA world.
