Is Rachel Nichols The Beginning Of A Bloodbath At ESPN?

Disney paid $1.4 billion for a nine-year extension to NBA television rights in 2016. Since then, the company has been trying to find ways to justify the price tag and shoe-horning the league everywhere it could.

There was a multi-million dollar interactive entertainment complex at Walt Disney World. Two weeks ago, the company announced it would closed after just seven months in operation.

Then there was the big swing that made a little more sense. ESPN wanted to program its NBA coverage the same way it did its NFL coverage. There would be a show on year-round regardless of whether or not the league was in season. There would be a huge team of former players and coaches and broadcasters to rotate through the studio, keeping perspectives fresh and coverage exciting.

That didn’t get the same quick hook, but with the recent announcement that Dave Roberts would be overseeing NBA production and last week’s decision to part ways with Rachel Nichols and call it a day on The Jump, it is clear that the ESPN is ready to acknowledge things aren’t going as planned.

Rachel Nichols has every right to be pissed about the way her time at ESPN ended. She was recorded in a private moment bitching about work. We all do that and we all say things in those moments we wouldn’t want to be made public. It is understandable to think she was done wrong.

Let me rephrase. She WAS done wrong. I am just not sure how much that recording and what she had to say about Maria Taylor is actually the reason she is out at ESPN. I think it is just convenient cover.

I used to say this all the time about pro teams hiring a new GM or collegiate athletics programs hiring a new AD: you don’t sign up to be the captain of the Death Star if they aren’t going to let you fire the big laser.

When you are put in a position to oversee every aspect of a product or a program, you want to make sure you have handpicked the people whose work will determine your success. Dave Roberts may not be a GM or an AD, but he is no different. If ESPN’s NBA coverage is Alderaan, then he is Grand Moff Tarkin giving the order to blow it to smithereens.

I have no inside knowledge. I am just using some common sense here. The exit of Maria Taylor was a sign of things to come. Rachel Nichols’s dismissal is the shot across the bow of a product that needs some kind of kick in the ass. There is a new sheriff in town, and if it takes a bloodbath to get the NBA right, then there is gonna be a bloodbath at ESPN.

Taylor is gone. Paul Pierce was let go midseason. That means the 2021-22 NBA season will again start with a shakeup for NBA Countdown. ESPN’s studio show has always played second-fiddle to what TNT has to offer on Thursday nights. It isn’t reasonable to think that a new host joining the existing cast will be the only change.

If I am Jalen Rose and/or Jay Williams, I am on the phone with my agent right now trying to get some answers. I am at least trying to get a meeting so I can try to determine for myself which way the wind is blowing.

ESPN has some really talented people in terms of NBA analysts. Rose and Williams are two of them. Kendrick Perkins, I think it is safe to say, has put the “rising star” moniker in his rearview. The guy is a star right now. Tim Legler is a commanding presence whenever he is on SportsCenter. Vince Carter proved very quickly to be a strong broadcaster. There are options in house, but none of them give ESPN what Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal give TNT: iconic, generational talents both on the court and on TV.

What are you going to do in the host’s chair? Malika Andrews is reportedly in-line for the role. Does that excite anyone? Stephen A. Smith, who Roberts is reportedly close with, has an idea for a new studio show that includes himself, Michael Wilbon, and Magic Johnson. Can you imagine how hard that would be to watch? Stephen A. Smith shouting strong opinions at two people with nothing to say back?

There are two things I want to make clear. First, I’ll reiterate that this is just speculation. I don’t have inside knowledge. I am a basketball fan with a little bit of insight to the people and decisions involved here. Next, I am a big fan of professional basketball. This is not some kind of fantasy built on any sort of anti-NBA agaenda.

When Disney signed that contract extension with the league in 2016, it tried to fit a square peg (NFL-style coverage) into a round hole (NBA consumption). Those of us that like the NBA do like to talk about it year round, but that discussion largely lives on Twitter and other social platforms. The NBA fanbase is younger, more diverse, and most importantly, smaller than the NFL fan base. It was never going to support a daily NBA debate show on traditional television like The Jump in a way that made ESPN suits look at it as a success. So it is time to re-think what we are doing here.

ESPN and ABC still have the NBA Finals. They will go back to presenting double-headers on Sundays in the upcoming season. There is a lot to work with in terms of play-by-play.

Maybe the pieces to make the studio programming work are already in house and they just need to be reconfigured. The reality, though, is they probably are not. That’s why Dave Roberts is in charge of the NBA now.

Changing players is the first step. It is one ESPN has taken more than once before though, and the network is still playing catch-up. If your initial solution doesn’t fix the problem, what comes next?

It might be time to boot up that big laser.

Demetri Ravanos

Demetri Ravanos is a columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. He is also the creator of The Sports Podcast Festival, and a previous host on the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas in addition to hosting Panthers and College Football podcasts. His radio resume includes stops at WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC.

You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos or reach him by email at DemetriTheGreek@gmail.com.