ESPN’s widely publicized layoffs have been crippling to many parts of the company, highlighted by college basketball and hockey with top-flight media members exiting in mass. However, the NBA department may end up being the most widely affected, as the network’s No. 1 NBA Draft analyst will be on his way out following the 2017 edition of the event.
Layoffs end my 16 yr run covering the NBA Draft for ESPN on June 30. Will do my best to make next 60 days special for our Insider readers
— NBA Big Board (@chadfordinsider) April 29, 2017
Word broke just hours after Marc Stein, the network’s top NBA news breaker, announced that he is on the outs, and Ford joins a seemingly ever-growing list that includes TrueHoop founder Henry Abbott, Warriors scribe Ethan Sherwood Strauss, long-time editor and New Orleans Pelicans writer Justin Verrier and others. While the sentiment existed prior to news of Ford’s departure, this is yet another indication that Adrian Wojnarowski and his team from The Vertical could be headed to ESPN.
Another @nba reporter has been let go — more room for arrival of @WojVerticalNBA & @TheVertical to @espn this summer. #ESPNLayoffs
— james andrew miller (@JimMiller) April 28, 2017
Parting ways with the No. 1 news voice and the No. 1 draft expert would seem to illuminate a path to high-profile additions in the (very) near future, but it still does not take away from the wild atmosphere that currently exists with the Worldwide Leader laying off talent in the dozens. This remains a developing story, but for now, we know that ESPN’s NBA department will look vastly different moving forward, even if their lead draft analyst will be around until the end of June.
