After a year of being frozen behind the scenes and publicly frozen for a month, ESPN went ahead with the inevitable. Rachel Nichols will not be covering the NBA for the network, and her flagship show "The Jump" has been cancelled.
The move was first reported by Sports Business Journal.
Nichols' days at the network are probably numbered as his comments about Maria Taylor were reported by the New York Times in early July, just before the NBA Finals began.
ESPN eventually pulled Nichols from his sideline reporting gig during the finals, but he still had the daily show.
Nichols filed complaints about how the network handled him, and Taylor caused a buzz within the company for a year before going completely public. Speaking on the phone while his remote studio (unknown to him) was still recording, Nichols spoke about ESPN management's long-documented sexism and strongly implied that Taylor would get the chance to host the 2020 finals. Was getting it because she was black. She was on the phone with Adam Mendelsohn, a PR operator and mentor to LeBron James.
Nichols said, "If you need to give her more things because you're feeling pressure on Variety about your crappy longtime record—which, I personally know from the female side of it—like, its Take it," said Nichols. Tailor. Just find it somewhere else. You will not seek it from me or take away my thing."
According to the Times, many black ESPN employees were upset by what Nichols said about Taylor, and ESPN refused to punish Nichols for it. Taylor has since left for NBC Sports.
"We mutually agreed that this approach with respect to our NBA coverage was the best for all concerned," ESPN said in a statement to the Sports Business Journal. Nichols reportedly has one year left on his contract; ESPN would not comment on what that year would be like.
Executive David Roberts took over ESPN's NBA coverage earlier this month, and Nichols' move was one of his first public-facing changes.
A veteran sports journalist, Nichols hosted The Jump and has been an NBA sideline reporter for the network since 2016. He previously had a stint with ESPN from 2004 to 2013.