After pitting two women against each other for the hosting role, ESPN will debut an all-male studio team for the NBA this year.
Mike Greenberg has been named ESPN’s primary NBA studio host beginning this season, filling a role that was occupied by Maria Taylor last season and originally given to Rachel Nichols in 2019. Greenberg will work with Stephen A. Smith, Michael Wilbon, Jalen Rose and occasionally Magic Johnson in ESPN’s first all-male NBA studio since 2013. The group will host on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and throughout the playoffs.
ESPN used female studio hosts dating back to 2013, when Sage Steele took over the role. Steele was replaced midseason by Michelle Beadle in 2017. Beadle was dropped in 2019 and replaced by Nichols, who was replaced midseason in 2020 by Taylor. ESPN still has several female studio hosts on its payroll, including “NBA Today” host Malika Andrews, former “Countdown” host Doris Burke and the perennially passed-over Cassidy Hubbarth.
A comprehensive look at all of the NBA studio teams used by ESPN (and predecessor NBC) during Turner Sports’ 20-year run of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley.
In addition to the primary Countdown team, ESPN announced that it will use a secondary team on Wednesday nights beginning in February. Michael Eaves will host alongside Richard Jefferson, Kendrick Perkins and Chiney Ogwumike.
Greenberg has never before had any involvement in ESPN’s NBA coverage, but his ascension to the studio team is no real surprise given ESPN’s NBA coverage is now overseen by David Roberts, whose primary responsibilities at ESPN include the Greenberg-hosted “Get Up!” morning show. Smith has been part of ESPN’s NBA coverage on-and-off for more than a decade, most recently hosting the an NBA-themed version of SportsCenter prior to Wednesday night games.
Wilbon and Johnson have been part of ESPN’s NBA studio on multiple occasions, working together from 2008-13 and again — briefly — in 2017. Rose has been a stalwart of the show through many iterations, though his status had come under question in recent months.
Greenberg and company will form just the latest studio show in ESPN’s 20-year run with the NBA. There have been too many iterations to count.
