With Wemby Pick on Deck, ESPN Triples NBA Draft Day Fun With Distinct Presentations Across ESPN, ABC, Social ESPN will focus on the selections; ABC, on their stories By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Thursday, June 22, 2023 - 3:00 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It's not often that a once-in-a-generation player like Victor Wemby Wembanyama comes around. So, with interest in the NBA Draft higher than at perhaps any point since Lebron James was drafted 20 years ago, ESPN is offering three distinct presentations of tonight's Draft across ESPN, ABC, and its digital/social platforms.
ESPN will provide the main broadcast focused on the picks, and ABC's coverage will focus on storytelling and player-interest stories. And, for the first time, ESPN will offer the NBA Draft on its digital platforms, by way of The Hoop Collective NBA Draft Show.
With our partners at the NBA and across all of our platform, we decided to differentiate all the [presentations] in a very distinctive way, says David Roberts, head of NBA and studio Production, ESPN. This is going to be true cross-platform, comprehensive coverage. A great deal of thought and preparation has gone into each specific platform. The goal is to make sure that each platform serves the specific audience in a distinct but comprehensive fashion.
The full NBA Draft will be available on ESPN; ABC and ESPN digital platforms will carry the first round only. Prior to the Draft, ESPN will broadcast a special red-carpet pre-event show at 5-6 p.m. ESPN Radio is onsite to provide live coverage from the Barclays Center beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The ESPN and ABC broadcasts will be produced by their own production crews out of trucks onsite in Brooklyn and will have independent sets inside the arena.
We're fortunate to have the resources we do at ESPN - both behind the camera and in front of the camera - that allow us to produce four distinct shows in documenting the Draft, says Mike Shiffman, SVP, production, ESPN. At ESPN, we have the people and the resources and the backing of [executive leadership] to take this approach, which I believe you can't get from other Draft coverage [across] radio, digital, and linear.
X's and O's: ESPN Coverage Aims To Serve the Hardcore Fan
Malika Andrews will host ESPN's NBA Draft coverage for the second time, joined by ESPN college-basketball analyst Jay Bilas, NBA analyst JJ Redick, reporters Andraya Carter and Monica McNutt (who will conduct interviews with draftees just after they are selected), Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, and Front Office Insider Bobby Marks.
We will be reaching the hardcore basketball fan with X's and O's [and player] fits with the team, notes Schiffman, [with] Woj breaking news, Bobby adding that front-office perspective, and Monica humanizing these players with the interviews.
Getting Emotional: ABC Delves Into Player Backstories
SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi will return to host the ABC presentation alongside analyst Stephen A. Smith. The duo will be joined by special guests, including draftees and their families. The ABC presentation will also offer an exclusive, sit-down interview with Wembanyama by Good Morning America host Robin Roberts.
According to Shiffman, ESPN's features team has spent the past four to five months creating both long-form features and vignettes on key prospects, which will air on ABC. In addition to Roberts's Wembanyama piece, ABC's broadcast will comprise long-form pieces on Scoot Henderson, twins Amen and Ausar Thompson, Jordan Hawkins, Dereck Lively II, and Brandon Miller, along with 15-20 vignettes on other prospects.
This is something brand new [in terms of] the longer-form features, says Shiffman. It's not an understatement to say that months of production prep, research, bookings [went into] that endeavor. A lot of work goes into these past four to five months to build up to what we have ready to go for Draft night.
Having Some Fun: Hoop Collective, Red Carpet, Confessional Booth The Hoop Collective NBA Draft Show will be available on ESPN's YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter platforms, as well as on the ESPN App and on-demand for Apple and Spotify users. Brian Windhorst, host, The Hoop Collective Podcast, will lead coverage with analyst Kirk Goldsberry, podcast contributor Kevin Pelton, and play-by-play announcer Sam Ravech.
I think it'll be distinct and will be very conversational, says Shiffman. It's got the ability to be super nimble [in order to] react to breaking news.
ESPN reporter/host Cassidy Hubbarth will host a special red-carpet pre-event show, joined by NBA analysts Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson. In addition to previews and interviews with potential draftees, team personnel, and celebrity guests, the red-carpet show will feature a 360-degree camera to capture distinctive shots of the prospects.
We will have a 360 camera on the red carpet, which captures unique imagery of draftees as they enter, says Shiffman. It [provides a] 360 point of view of them, and they generally have a lot of fun with that camera. Just as it happens on the red carpet, we'll integrate it into the broadcast.
Adding to the fun, selected draftees will have the opportunity to enter a confessional booth just after hearing their name called to share their emotions and thoughts on the moment.
[That's] where they will talk from the heart about being drafted or give unique aspects to get to know them, says Shiffman. It's not [an interview] that was put on tape a couple weeks ago; it's live and in the moment. And I think it adds to our humanizing and personalizing of the players for both broadcasts.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
With Wemby Pick on Deck, ESPN Triples NBA Draft Day Fun With Distinct Presentations Across ESPN, ABC, Social ESPN will focus on the selections; ABC, on their stories By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
