Rachel Nichols’ signing with Showtime has led to comparisons between her and Malika Andrews due to their feud.
Rachel Nichols was at the top of the NBA analytics world for years, especially starting in 2016 when ESPN pulled her away from Turner Sports. Hosting ‘The Jump’ put her opinions and journalistic outlook on issues within the league on the map, catapulting her to stardom in her field of work.
However, that all came crashing down when a leaked phone call between Rachel Nichols and LeBron James adviser Adam Mendelsohn. In her conversation with each other, Nichols revealed that her job was to be the secondary reporter for the NBA Finals, but that Maria Taylor dropped her due to ESPN’s “lack of diversity.”
These comments were seen as a way to discredit the work that women of color like Malika Andrews and Maria Taylor put in to get to the position they held.
Shortly after the phone call was leaked, Nichols was removed from all programming on ESPN and her show ‘The Jump’ also went off the air. Since 2021, the NBA community has heard little to nothing from Nichols.
Also read: “Malika Andrews’s boyfriend won’t like that about Jordan Poole!”: The Warriors man was also aggressive off the court during the interview
NBA Twitter on Rachel Nichols signing with Showtime.
Malika Andrews has recently been making the rounds in the news cycle due to her comments on the Ime Udoka situation. Her feud with Stephen A. Smith live has resulted in NBA fans not getting along with her at the moment.
Coinciding with the backlash Andrews has received over the last week, Rachel Nichols took to her social media to announce that she is partnering with Showtime Basketball. She will have segments with the likes of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and JR Smith.
NBA fans immediately took to Twitter and were actually quite supportive. However, some fans went a step further and brought in Malika Andrews, claiming that they prefer Nichols over the former.
We prefer you to Malika! I speak for everyone when I say that we are no longer seeing any content from Malika and only your content!
— BEVERLEY FAN (@therealselena23) September 30, 2022
You have no idea how much we appreciate you now. @malika_andrews I lost all my support.
— KoolKyleG (@kgeesr) September 30, 2022
Regardless of who you side with someone, it’s great to see more women continue to get a chance to talk about hoops in a male-dominated field of work.
Also read: “Isn’t Malika Andrews from the Bay Area?”: NBA Twitter reacts to old ESPN Reporter clip teasing Warriors’ title chances
