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

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.”