ESPN pay cuts?

He is a heck of a writer and my favorite NBA podcaster. Odd given that they just saved all of that Woj cash.

 

I think that'll be it for the major talent layoffs.

He'll land well. Still stinks for him and ESPN, which has never quite figured out its NBA coverage approach.

 

Let’s pay for that new expensive NBA deal by ditching one of our biggest NBA faces.

 

I think Lowe's salary is so high because he was the star NBA writer for the old Grantland, which was the number one beat there. ESPN wanted to keep him away from Simmons. and overpaid. His podcast draws good numbers and I expect to see him moving to the Ringer and rejoining Simmons.

 

Agreed.

Lowe actually has a good podcast.

 

I don't get with all these layoffs and moves, how is every show still overloaded with talking heads? Does ESPN pay peanuts to the former players? Does Orlovsky get paid in haircuts and tight fitting suits?

 

I kind of wonder if he goes solo instead. The Ringer spent money on Ryen Russillo, of all people, a couple years ago and hasn't really dipped much into the well of "laid off established broadcaster" since. Maybe they will, because Simmons was the one who really gave Lowe a push initially. Howard Beck seems pretty underused there, so a Beck-Lowe podcast would be a lot of fun.

 

Honest question - for people like Lowe or Woj - does the outlet even matter? I could see ESPN doing the "....ESPN has confirmed" crud for a while if people just started giving stuff to Lowe if he goes solo because of the relationships he has with sources.
Though I realize about the only outlets I hear "sourced" any more is The Athletic, Yahoo or ESPN - Fox doesn't have a digital sports outlet, local beat writers rarely get scoops. I don't know the last bit of news Sports Illustrated broke.

Granted, ESPN does have the ability to take a scrap of "news" (whether actual news or something SAS/Schefter tweeted overnight) and hitting it all day on their TV and radio yak fests.

 

I think ESPN has the ability of ESPN to promote someone or something is of great value if you are an aspiring writer or podcaster. For example, does anyone think Brian Windhorst would be this prominent if ESPN had not hired him to be their LeBron beat writer and them promoted him across their platforms.

 

Noooooooooooopppppppppppeeeeeeeeee. And I think he was still wrong on The Decision.