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From ‘NBA Today’ to the Australian Open, Malika Andrews Trusts the Power of Nerves
As her star rises at ESPN and Disney, Andrews opens up to Boardroom about leaning into nervousness, growth, and taking on the Australian Open without fear.When ESPN Executive Vice President of Sports Production Mike McQuade asked Malika Andrews if she wanted to host the second week of the Australian Open this year, starting on Sunday, she decided to dive in, despite it being a sport she’d never covered and taking place on the other side of the world. Andrews continues expanding her hosting repertoire as her star at Disney rises.“When people who believe in you, maybe a little bit more than you believe in yourself, tap you for one of our premier assignments, you say yes,” Andrews told Boardroom over the phone earlier this month. “And when you’re tapped to grow or expand or try something that’s a little bit different, that that’s what makes me a little bit nervous in the best way.”And when Andrews, the 30-year-old host extraordinaire of ESPN’s NBA coverage, said she’s nervous, she wanted to make it clear that having nerves is not the same as being scared.“Nerves is excitement,” she continued. “Nerves is curiosity. Nerves is wanting to do well in something new. I always tell people if you feel those butterflies, that’s because you care and you want to see something get the light that it deserves.” Stay Ahead of the Game, Get Our NewslettersSubscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.Following stints covering the NBA at The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, Andrews joined ESPN as a reporter in 2018, and her opportunities and responsibilities at the network quickly grew. At the NBA bubble in Florida during COVID in 2020, she starred as a sideline reporter, quickly proving herself more than capable as an on-screen presence. So when she was chosen as the host of NBA Today, ESPN’s re-branded daily NBA show, in 2021 and became the first woman to ever host the NBA Draft a year later, it came as no surprise given her ability to elevate both the events she’s hosting and the teammates, co-hosts, and analysts around her. She now hosts NBA Countdown for the NBA Finals, will lead ESPN’s WNBA game coverage this coming season, and first guest-hosted Good Morning America last July.Unless you’re watching NBA TV on a regular basis, NBA Today is the only daily nationally televised NBA-focused show out there. It’s one of the league’s stewards in covering the sport with a mix of substantive news and analysis mixed with more lighthearted segments that bring viewers levity while still taking what they do seriously. It’s the job of Andrews and Hilary Guy, ESPN’s vice president of production for NBA and WNBA studio shows, to entertain and educate their audience each day — from Michael Malone‘s segments on X’s and O’s from a championship-winning coach, reporting from Shams Charania, Brian Windhorst, Ramona Shelburne, and other network journalists, analysis from former players like Kendrick Perkins, Chiney Ogwumike, and Iman Shumpert, humorous cut-ins from guys like Richard Jefferson, and new features utilizing VR technology.“You want breakdowns, you want lively discussions, you want joy,” Andrews, who won a Sports Emmy in 2022, said. “Right now, more than ever, NBA fans are asking with the heaviness of the world to be delighted by a sport and not to be yelled at about it. And that’s what NBA Today specifically tries to do, and we do it as well as anybody. It’s why so many shows use NBA Today, as we’re seeing new partners, as that sort of blueprint.”NBA Today’s discourse-shaping role was never more important than a few months ago, when Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested as part of a wide-ranging illegal sports betting and poker investigation that FBI Director Kash Patel called “the insider trading saga for the NBA.” Andrews was proud that her show handled this news differently from the rest of the network. They utilized ABC senior investigative reporter Aaron Katersky, who she said is deeply sourced within the Justice Department, and lead ESPN betting analyst David Purdum to discuss the specifics of the case, rather than putting talking heads in the position of analyzing issues in which they’re not necessarily best equipped to discuss.“This did not feel like something where we should be debating the validity of something,” Andrews said. “We wanted our analysts to speak to specific questions of when this happens in the locker room, when you’re on a team that looks like they’re on the up and up, and something this disruptive happens. Our role was to tap our reporters, cut through the noise, and provide the information so that fans can be as educated as possible.”ESPN was heavily criticized for airing ads for its former ESPN Bet sportsbook on-screen while analysts discussed the scandal. Andrews helped ensure NBA Today would be different.“I have my ear to the ground of what’s our bottom line look like? What are our sponsorships that day?” she said. “How can we move those things to make sure and be very honest and say we have these sponsorships, because that’s still the ethos of how I cover these stories. And I also know that it’s a different decision that was made than other places.”While the NBA has been her bread and butter over her eight-plus years at ESPN, Andrews will now be tasked with hosting the championship rounds at the Australian Open — succeeding Chris McKendry, who’s taken over play-by-play duties — despite having no tennis broadcast experience. So she leaned on some legendary veteran mentors for advice and guidance, including Hannah Storm, who’s hosted numerous tennis majors in the past, and Mike Tirico, who’s covered everything from the NBA and NFL to multiple Olympic Games. Tirico’s advice especially stuck with her.“Simple can still be exceptional,” Andrews recounted. “You can go toe to toe in the NBA with anybody, right? But when you go into something new, you are allowed to still shine in simplicity. You’re allowed to go in looking to have a learning ear from all of the analysts around you.”Andrews already experienced this to a lesser extent when she joined WNBA Countdown as a co-host to start last season alongside analysts Ogwumike, Andraya Carter, and Monica McNutt. She went in with a learning ear and a learning mindset and will do the same with analysts like the McEnroe brothers and Chris Eubanks, keeping it simple as Tirico advised, and leaning on analysts who’ve forgotten more tennis knowledge than she’ll ever know.“I thought that was really great advice because I’m a perfectionist,” Andrews said. “I take my preparation very, very seriously. I’ve been preparing for this for the last several months, and I get on our first broadcast call with everybody, and I’m blown away by the stories and the little ins and outs our analysts know. And our job is to let our analysts shine because, respectfully, people aren’t here for you, right? They’re here for Carlos Alcaraz. They’re here for Jannik Sinner. They’re here even for the McEnroe brothers, who have been in their households for decades and decades. So how do you help those folks shine? And that is something I know how to do.”"I love to see this. … This is a good day for fans to be excited about the optimism that both sides really want this to happen."@chiney reacts to the WNBA schedule being announced 🤩 (via NBA Today) pic.twitter.com/7J8bpxs50M— espnW (@espnW) January 21, 2026 Good Morning America is now something Andrews knows how to do, another example of her growing range. She enjoys new challenges, like talking sports with a non-sports audience or going back to NBA sideline reporting and hosting a tennis Grand Slam. Perhaps her future lies more in news and entertainment than in sports as she dives into her 30s. When asked how she sees her future, Andrews said she believes in the birthday candles theory.“I’m the person, when I blow out my birthday candles, and someone asks, ‘What did you wish for?’ I don’t say my wish,” she said. “And I believe that about my career. It’s a radical act for women to be able to age on television and do the same job the way one of my GOATs, Ernie Johnson, has done for decades. So I hope to be able to do this for a very long time, and to continue to be challenged.” Andrews still wants to interview the biggest names in tennis and sit down with sports icons like Michael Jordan or Lindsey Vonn, but she also wants to speak with the likes of Amy Poehler, Mel Robbins, Robin Roberts, and Sarah Jessica Parker in the entertainment sphere. For now, she gets to own the NBA beat as a host and reporter while still branching out and expanding her coverage across the Walt Disney Company.“The way that you are challenged is to take on and try things that are new when you start to feel comfortable,” Andrews said. “I think that that’s what I’m trying to do here.”Read More:101131post6ORdate 
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Shlomo SprungShlomo Sprung is a Senior Staff Writer at Boardroom. He has more than a decade of experience in journalism, with past work appearing in Forbes, MLB.com, Awful Announcing, and The Sporting News. He graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2011, and his Twitter and Spotify addictions are well under control. Just ask him.