Who is Rachel Nichols and where is she right now?

Rachel Nichols is a successful American sports journalist and broadcaster. She is best known for her role on ESPN’s former show “The Jump.” Nichols hosted the show from 2016 to 2021 alongside many NBA personalities. However, a workplace controversy forced her to leave ESPN in 2021.

However, Nichols has now reportedly landed a new gig with Showtime Basketball as a host and producer. Her role is expected to be a “multiplatform role”, and the first full-time role since her departure from ESPN.

Outside of her most prominent work for ESPN as an NBA show host, Rachel Nichols has over 25 years of total experience in the sports industry. She has covered numerous professional sports leagues including the NFL, MLB and NHL.

She has also covered professional tennis, college sports and the Olympics. So Nichols is more than qualified for her new position. However, many had speculated whether her controversial departure from ESPN would affect her future job prospects.

In July 2021, The New York Times released a story on Nichols involving her leaked private phone conversation with adviser Adam Mendelsohn from 2020. During the call, Nichols complained about fellow ESPN reporter Maria Taylor. Nichols claimed that ESPN gave Taylor more coverage than her because she was black and ESPN wanted to improve their diversity. Here's what Nicols said about Taylor on the call:

“If you need to give her more things to do because you are feeling pressure about your crappy longtime record on diversity, which, by the way, I know personally from the female side of it, like, go for it. Just find it somewhere else."

The private call eventually led to Nichols being forced out of ESPN with The Jump being canceled shortly after. Nichols later agreed to an official settlement with ESPN to end her tenure in January 2022.

Luckily for Nichols, it appears the controversy didn’t affect her too much as it only took her less than a year to find something else.

For more on Rachel Nichols' ESPN controversy, check out a clip from a recent interview Nichols did on the “All the Smoke” podcast below.

Rachel Nichols on her new position with Showtime Basketball

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Rachel Nichols recently released an official statement explaining her excitement regarding her new role with Showtime Sports. She said:

“I’ve been so fortunate to live my dream job alongside some of the best journalists in the business for more than 25 years, and this new development deal with Showtime Sports gives me my most broad playing field yet.”

Nichols then addressed some of the specifics of her new position:

“They’ve asked me to produce, create and host new sports programming across platforms, working alongside Hall of Famers, multiple guys with championship rings, and an uber-creative team behind the camera. We’re going to have so much fun."