by Stacy Jackson
June 25, 2025
Taylor will be part of analysts Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter as she leads NBC Sports activities’ NBA protection for the 2025-26 season.
As followers await the tip-off of the 2025-26 basketball season, NBC Sports activities has tapped Maria Taylor as lead studio host to cowl forthcoming NBA video games.
Taylor, who already works with the community as host of “Soccer Evening in America” and a contributor to the community’s Olympic protection, will be part of analysts Carmelo Anthony and Vince Carter to host NBC’s studio exhibits on Sundays and Tuesdays. In accordance with The Hollywood Reporter, the 38-year-old sportscaster may also cowl choose WNBA video games when the season begins in 2026.
“I’m deeply honored to be a part of NBC Sports activities’ unbelievable legacy overlaying the NBA and to return to the sport that first captured my coronary heart, girls’s basketball,” mentioned Taylor. “To know that I’ll spend the following 5 years with my NBC household telling the tales of the Tremendous Bowl, the Olympics, the NBA Playoffs, and the WNBA Finals is greater than a dream come true — it’s a full-circle second.”
Taylor joined NBC in 2021 after she left ESPN’s “NBA Countdown.” As beforehand coated by BLACK ENTERPRISE, ESPN supplied the sportscaster a increase value tens of millions in 2021 following an incident with a white colleague who allegedly acknowledged the sports activities channel solely employed Taylor as a result of stress surrounding its “crappy longtime document on range.” NBC Sports activities Government Producer Sam Flood mentioned Taylor has confirmed her skill to guide by way of her earlier work with the community’s high-profile applications. “I’m excited to see her carry that very same management and power to this new crew with Carmelo and Vince, as they construct chemistry and set the stage for primetime NBA basketball every week, and the WNBA starting subsequent yr,” mentioned Flood.
The announcement comes within the wake of NBCUniversal’s return as an NBA associate. In July 2024, NBCUniversal and the NBA introduced an 11-year settlement to current NBA and WNBA regular-season and playoff basketball video games beginning later this yr. Because the NBA returns to the NBC Sports activities household, the community plans to proceed its almost two-decade custom of premium Sunday night time sports activities protection with a brand new Sunday Evening Basketball NBA collection scheduled at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Every tip-off will premiere following a one-hour pregame present. The media and leisure firm acknowledged that Tuesday nights will characteristic a “distinctive NBA regular-season doubleheader” at 8 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. PT.
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