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 run and stuck watching. Josh Hart, a near disaster of a mistake in Game 4 that ended up not mattering.
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“I am glad they will be remembered as winners instead,” Andrews said.
She knows the job of a reporter helps shape those memories.
Andrews tries to find the best words for the biggest moments, that put the people in context. Like the Knicks’ title and the kids’ memories of beginning their NBA career.
So, before the draft, even during those NBA Finals, she calls every prospect she can reach, about 15 to 20 of them. She does some research, but she always makes a point to ask every prospect the same thing. “When you dreamed about that moment, what did you hear?”
“It’s a clip you’re going to go back and watch,” she said, the whole family will watch it. “I do want their input.”
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Reporters do not owe a source input in how a story is shaped. Andrews makes an exception for input for the draft. The kids get one shot for a lifetime memory, she wants to get it right.
On the floor, she works from a binder – alphabetized by last name – no teleprompter, the night running live. Below the camera, her researcher Gil Bransford holds the lowest-tech tool in the building, a note card clipped to what amounts to a trash picker-upper and taps the bottom of her chair with updates.
The morning of the draft, Andrews is filled with nervous excitement. The lights and camera go on, the first name is called and that drains out.
“I always feel this deep calm,” she said. “And it’s not about (me), it’s about these guys.”
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The draft opens Tuesday, June 23, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, 10 days after the city’s title. Dybantsa is expected to be among the first names commissioner Adam Silver reads. When the moment comes, there will be general talk: one year at BYU, top player in the country, three gold medals with the national team in the under-19, 17, and 16’s, etc.
Meanwhile, Andrews will quickly flip to the notes she wrote while talking to him. There, in her writing she will see the thing that was most important to him.
And Andrews will remember to say that he is from Brockton.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Malika Andrews hosts NBA Draft for ESPN after huge NBA Finals run
