Rachel Nichols is no longer the NBA Finals reporter amid Maria Taylor drama

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On Monday, the company announced, Rachel Nichols will not be the side reporter for ESPN during the NBA Finals when the Phoenix Suns face the Milwaukee Bucks.

Nichols will host “The Jump” throughout the NBA Finals while Malika Andrews will be a side reporter during the tournament.

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Nichols was the fringe reporter in the Orlando bubble in last season’s NBA Finals. She replaced Doris Burke last year after Burke spent 11 years covering the Finals from the sidelines.

The replacement came after Nichols appeared in his search for colleague Maria Taylor in a New York Times story over the weekend. Taylor will be the pre-game and half-time host for the NBA Finals “NBA Countdown” alongside Galen Rose and Jay Williams.

“We believe this is the best decision for all involved in order to maintain focus on the NBA Finals. Rachel will continue to host The Gump,” ESPN said in a statement.

The clip, which was published in the New York Times, showed Nichols’ complaint that Taylor won the NBA Finals hosted by Nichols last year due to what his “diversity” reasons suggested.

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Nichols apologized for ESPN’s “The Jump” on Monday and co-hosts Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson defended him in the process.

“So the first thing they teach you in journalism school is not to be a story,” Nichols said. “And I’m not planning to break that rule today or distract from great finals.”

“But I also don’t want to let this moment pass without saying how much I respect, and how much I value our colleagues here at ESPN. How very sorry I am for the frustration of those I have hurt, especially Maria Taylor, and how grateful I am to be part of such an outstanding team.”

The New York Times clip showed Nichols complaining about Taylor getting the party. She was talking to Adam Mendelsohn, an advisor to LeBron James, and she didn’t know she was taping.

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“I wish Maria Taylor all the success in the world — she covers football, she covers basketball,” Nichols said. “If you need to give her more things to do because you’re feeling pressured about your long, poor record in diversity — which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it — like, look for it. Just find it somewhere else. You won’t find it from me or take my things.

“I just want them to go somewhere else – by the way, this is in my contract; this job is written in my contract.

Nichols, who is White, initially joined ESPN in 2004 and was a regular on the network’s main show “SportsCenter” as well as NFL and NBA shows. She left ESPN for CNN in 2013 and was seen doing side-reports for TNT’s NBA broadcasts from 2013 to 2016. She rejoined ESPN in 2016. Her stepmother is Diane Sawyer.

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Taylor, who is black, has been primarily seen on ESPN’s coverage of college football since joining the company in 2013. She began hosting “NBA Countdown” in 2019.

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