Maria Taylor was told she would never be on TV again when she left ESPN

Maria Taylor kept receipts when she left ESPN for NBC Sports in 2021.

During a recent appearance on Carmelo Anthony’s “7PM in Brooklyn” podcast, Taylor discussed her career journey, including her tumultuous breakup with the Worldwide Leader, where she worked from 2013 to 2021.

“The last thing someone told me at my former employer was, ‘You’ll never be seen on TV again,'” said Taylor, 38, who is the host of “NBA on NBC.”

“Now she’s everywhere,” Anthony, who joined NBC Sports as an NBA analyst this season, said of his new co-worker.

She did not elaborate on the situation or reveal who said it.

Maria Taylor discussed her exit from ESPN during an appearance on “7PM in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony” in November 2025. YouTube/7PM In Brooklyn With Carmelo Anthony

Taylor left ESPN after then-colleague Rachel Nichols made disparaging “diversity” comments about her in leaked audio, which was made public in July 2021.

Taylor joined NBC Sports less than a week after her contract with ESPN expired that month.

NBAE via Getty Images

“There’s a healing process you have to go through after something like that,” Taylor said. “To me, that was traumatic. But being on the other side of it now, I’m like, ‘Oh, I get why you gotta walk through fire sometimes.’ It just happens.

“And it feels so much better now. I feel looser, I feel freer, I feel more confident in everything I do, which is all the things I need to be a part of a launch of the ‘NBA on NBC.’ That’s the point.”

“… I feel like I’m standing in my purpose. This is what it’s supposed to look like… I want to be on Sunday Night Football.’ They’ve never had a woman host that show. I need to be there.”

Taylor was named NBC Sports’ lead NBA studio host for the launch of “NBA on NBC” this season.

She is in her fourth season as host of “Sunday Night Football” for NBC — and became the first full-time woman to host the network’s “Football Night in America” studio show.