As the start of the 2024-25 NBA season approaches, Kevin O’Connor has a new home.
Taking to X on Thursday, the NBA analyst announced that he’s leaving The Ringer to join Yahoo Sports.
“Beyond excited about what we’re building together @YahooSports,” O’Connor wrote, retweeting an announcement from the outlet. “More details to come on my NBA podcast, and much more.”
O’Connor also thanked Yahoo Sports president Ryan Spoon and the company’s head of content, Sam Farber.
Beyond excited about what we’re building together @YahooSports.
More details to come on my NBA podcast, and much more.
Thank you @ryanspoon and @samfarber13 for the opportunity to join such an incredible team.
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) September 12, 2024
Having first made a name for himself for his Boston Celtics coverage in the NBA blogosphere, O’Connor has been a staple of The Ringer’s NBA coverage since 2016. In addition to being a frequent guest on The Bill Simmons Podcast, the Brockton, Massachusetts, native was The Ringer’s lead NBA Draft analyst and the co-host of The Mismatch, alongside Chris Vernon.
Despite O’Connor having been at The Ringer for the last eight years, the news of his departure on Thursday didn’t come as a surprise to many, as a user on the Reddit page dedicated to Bill Simmons (yes, you read that correctly) posted earlier this week that they had heard the move was coming. That led some social media sleuths to notice that O’Connor had removed The Ringer from his X bio, although it wasn’t known until Thursday where he was heading.
No Ringer in Twitter bio 👀
h/t @NBAfan321123 pic.twitter.com/07s9Zuugeq
— The r/BillSimmons Podcast 🎙️ (@rBillSimmonsPod) September 11, 2024
As for Yahoo, the addition of O’Connor marks the latest high profile hiring to come under Spoon’s direction since he took over as Yahoo Sports’ president last year. In August, the online outlet announced a new partnership with MMA insider and personality Ariel Helwani, resulting in the launch of the ‘Uncrowned’ vertical.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.