The 2025-2026 NBA season has been all about new networks, new opportunities, and new voices. And even though they are the only rightsholder who is an incumbent, ESPN has also refreshed their coverage this year. The addition of Iman Shumpert is the latest evidence of that trend.
The former New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers guard was a solid two-way pro who played 10 seasons in the league and was most notably part of the Cavs team that won the title in 2016.
Now that his playing days are done, Shumpert has shifted into media work as an analyst. And during the 2025 NBA Finals, his work on ESPN’s digital properties alongside Brian Windhorst was a bright spot for the network. Compare Shumpert’s insightful work to the atrocities that were committed on ABC during the television broadcasts, and it was a night and day experience.
ESPN has made huge changes to their basketball coverage this year. Tim Legler replaced Doris Burke in the lead broadcast booth and Inside the NBA has been licensed for their biggest coverage nights of the year. But the changes haven’t stopped there as this week Malika Andrews revealed that Iman Shumpert would be added to the regular rotation of analysts on NBA Today. Shumpert has been a part of ESPN’s digital NBA coverage on their Hoop Streams shows.
.@imanshumpert joins the NBA Today crew as an analyst! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0sChd0DzpU
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) January 13, 2026
This is a great move for a number of reasons. First, Shumpert is someone who genuinely seems excited to be there and talk about today’s NBA, which is something that not even the popular crew at Inside the NBA always achieves. Second, it furthers ESPN’s commitment to talking about actual basketball instead of leaning in on the soap operas and drama surrounding the NBA that had become a crutch for the network in recent years.
NBC and Amazon have stepped up NBA coverage in a big way this year with new energy and enthusiasm towards the league. It’s up to ESPN to match that as fans desire something new and different. By bringing Iman Shumpert on board their television coverage, it shows that ESPN is serious about leveling up alongside the competition.
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