NBC Sports has finalized its NBA roster with the additions of sideline reporters and a front office insider.
NBC Sports announced Monday that Zora Stephenson, Jordan Cornette and Ashley ShahAhmadi will serve as a sideline reporters on its NBA coverage that begins this fall.
Stephenson and Cornette are current NBC employees, the former serving as the network’s lead college football sideline reporter and women’s basketball play-by-play voice, and the latter a college basketball analyst. Stephenson’s addition is no surprise, as she was NBC’s lead sideline reporter for last year’s Summer Olympics basketball competition.
ShahAhmadi is joining NBC after stops with several outlets, including TNT Sports on the NBA and ESPN on college football.
Not on the list is Allie LaForce, who was TNT’s lead NBA sideline reporter in recent years. Dylan Byers of Puck reported last year that NBC was expected to “make an aggressive play” for her services. LaForce was also not included on the Amazon roster that was announced last month.
It should be noted that one of NBC’s top sideline reporters from its original NBA run is still with the network in a prominent role. Lewis Johnson, who just on Sunday was part of a viral post-race interview with Noah Lyles and Kenny Bednarik at the USATF Outdoor Championships, was NBC’s “B” team sideline reporter from 2001-02. The role also included working the 2001 and 2002 NBA Finals, making him the only current NBC Sports employee other than Mike Tirico who has covered the NBA Finals on television.
Another original “NBA on NBC” sideline reporter still with the network is Andrea Joyce, who still covers figure skating and gymnastics for NBC. In addition, NBC NASCAR pit reporter Marty Snider was a regular on TNT’s NBA sidelines for a few years in the 2000s and 2010s.
NBC also officially announced that it has hired Grant Liffman as an NBA insider. He will also occasionally serve as a game reporter.
