Allen Sliwa suddenly leaves ESPN LA ‘Travis & Sliwa’ show

Allen Sliwa, a longtime Los Angeles Lakers analyst and radio host at ESPN LA, announced he was leaving the station this week on the Travis & Sliwa show, which he cohosted until his sudden departure.

Sliwa and cohost Travis Rodgers referenced personal and family factors that led to his move before thanking the executives at 710 AM for allowing him to say goodbye to the audience.

“It’s been an interesting couple of weeks. Ultimately I had a very tough decision to make,” Sliwa explained. “And the decision was staying in Los Angeles and continuing what I’m doing, or kind of choose personal life over professional life.”

Sliwa did not specify what the personal factors were that led to his departure. The host, who began his radio career in sales at the station, also anchored pregame, halftime, and postgame radio coverage for Lakers games as well as a weekly evening show on the station called Lakers Talk.

According to Barrett Media, the station announced former St. Louis Rams lineman D’Marco Farr would replace Sliwa across from Rodgers on the Travis & D’Marco show. Barrett also reported Beto Durán will take over Lakers game programming from Sliwa.

Longtime ESPN LA personality Andy Kamenetzky also confirmed on X that he would be taking over Lakers Talk from Sliwa starting Sept. 9.

Heads up! As announced earlier, I’m taking over Lakers Talk on @ESPNLosAngeles, every Monday from 7-9 pm PT, starting 9/9! Very excited to get started and to involve Lakers fans with the show as much as possible! Listen up! @LockedOnLakers @LockedOnNBAPods

— Kamenetzky Brothers (@KamBrothers) September 3, 2024

While Sliwa and Rodgers talked around the specifics of Sliwa’s departure, the longtime host was able to bid farewell on Tuesday while the station’s social media accounts posted several messages in tribute to his time there.

Either way, it’s a big shakeup for the midday show on ESPN’s flagship sports talk station heading into football season.

[Barrett Media, ESPN LA]