On Friday, March 8, ESPN will celebrate International Women’s Day with an all-women led NBA live game and studio broadcast as the Minnesota Timberwolves visit the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7:30 p.m. EST/4:30 p.m. PST. This will mark the third consecutive year that the network will present an all-women broadcast within its NBA coverage, which begins with NBA Today at 3 p.m. EST/12 p.m. PST.
Malika Andrews will host the show along with reporter Ramona Shelburne and analysts Chiney Ogwumike and Becky Hammon. They will be on the air again at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. EST on Friday night for NBA Countdown leading into the live game broadcast from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Beth Mowins will deliver the call of the game alongside color commentator Monica McNutt and sideline reporter Katie George. Mowins has been the play-by-play announcer for the two previous all-women broadcasts, which will also include a game production team led by women at ESPN. Some of the roles implemented in this initiative last year, as outlined by the network in a press release, include producer, director and statistics analyst among others.
Friday will mark the fifth time this season ESPN is using an all-women broadcast on the season. The network will have 175 women working on the network’s slate of games that day, many of whom work on its NBA coverage daily.
Following the Timberwolves-Cavaliers game, the network will present a matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from Crytpo.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Dave Pasch will be on the call for that game joined by color commentator Stephanie White and sideline reporter Cassidy Hubbarth.
The broadcast will commence at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST and feature a star-studded matchup between Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lakers forward LeBron James. The commentary team will remain in Los Angeles to commentate the Sunday night game between the Timberwolves and Lakers at 9:30 p.m. EST/6:30 p.m. PST.
Preceding that matchup is the Philadelphia 76ers’ tilt against the New York Knicks from Madison Square Garden, which will include Beth Mowins and Katie George on the broadcast along with color commentator Hubie Brown.
