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AJ Dybantsa does not want to hear “from the Boston area.” He grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts. In his head, when he imagines the moment – when his name was called and he would walk out onto the stage – he wants to hear “from Brockton.
When Malika Andrews reached out to the projected No.1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft the other day, he wanted to make sure she understood the difference. He wanted to make sure she wrote it down: he’s from Brockton, not Boston.
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She wrote it down. She always does.
Andrews, 31, is the face of ESPN’s NBA coverage. She hosts “NBA Today” and “NBA Countdown,” just wrapped the 2026 NBA Finals on site and in 2022 became the first woman to host the draft.
ESPN host Malika Andrews and and former New York Knicks star Iman Shumpert take a ride through New York City on ESPN’s NBA Finals Pedicab ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals June 08, 2026.
So, she sweats the details, like the preferred hometown of a teenager, because for 30 seconds she’ll decide how the biggest moment of his life will sound.
Andrews doesn’t just wing those seconds. She reports them.
The instinct is deeply ingrained. Andrews came up from print, ran her college newspaper at the University of Portland, earned a New York Times reporting fellowship, and then covered the NBA for the Chicago Tribune. ESPN hired her in 2018 to write. She’s also the host of WNBA Countdown and just this year has added tennis to her roster; she will be hosting ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage in a week. Tennis isn’t her background, but she is a reporter at heart.
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She likes to tell the story of the people behind the news.
The Knicks are still on her mind as she prepares for the draft. She was on site when they won their first title in 53 years. It wasn’t the trophy that she remembered.
“There’s winning an NBA title, and then there’s winning an NBA title for a franchise like the Knicks,” Andrews said. “I’ve covered a lot of champions. This one was different.”
What she keeps thinking about is how the team will get remembered. Jalen Brunson, told for years he was too small, just a second-round pick. OG Anunoby, hurt during Toronto’s 2019 title…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/espns-malika-andrews-scripts-biggest-110247424.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-22 11:02:00
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