ESPN Announces Change to NBA Countdown

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Dibyendu Mondal | Last updated Nov 17, 2025 1:37 PM ET

Recently, ESPN made headlines because of the protracted deadlock between YouTube TV and Disney. Programs such as "College GameDay" were removed from the Google subscription service library, leaving many fans restless.

Soon after the issue was resolved, ESPN found itself on the front pages again. But this time it was a major addition.

"ESPN today officially announced its new-look NBA Countdown team that will lead pregame and halftime coverage for select NBA on ESPN game nights throughout the season," Ronce Rajan of ESPN wrote. "The new team will debut this Wednesday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App."

"Senior Writer Brian Windhorst, who recently reached a multi-year extension with ESPN, will join the NBA Countdown cast. Windhorst joins recently signed 2023 NBA Champion head coach Michael Malone and 2008 NBA Champion Kendrick Perkins as analysts. NBA Countdown will continue to be hosted by Malika Andrews, who is leading the show for the third season."

Shams Charania will maintain a regular reporting role on the program, supplying news and league updates during the pregame and halftime windows. A more significant development is the integration of virtual reality.

New look at ESPN’s ‘NBA Countdown’ team - debuting Wednesday

Details: https://t.co/KugeMZriiz pic.twitter.com/EXIKTLkBqH
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) November 17, 2025

ESPN is expanding the use of its Virtual Reality 2.0 system inside the Los Angeles NBA studio. The network described the tool as a more stable, first-person VR environment with photo-realistic player avatars that place analysts inside animated play sequences for breakdowns at the court level.

ESPN first used the system during its 2025 Western Conference Finals coverage and the company said the upgraded version will be deployed across "NBA Countdown" and "NBA Today."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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