ESPN fires NBA reporter Zach Lowe over seven-figure salary

Another top-class talent is out at ESPN.

Senior NBA writer Zach Lowe has been fired from the network, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported.

Lowe spent more than a decade at ESPN, joining Bill Simmons’ Grantland division in 2012 after previously writing for Sports Illustrated.

Lowe was one of the few Grantland writers who moved to ESPN when the vertical closed in 2015; NFL writer Bill Barnwell was another.

According to The Athletic, Lowe’s salary of over a million dollars a year was the “biggest factor” in his firing from ESPN.

In addition to his work as a writer for ESPN, Lowe appeared regularly on “NBA Today,” the network’s daily NBA program, and hosted the popular podcast “Lowe Post.”

Lowe’s departure from ESPN follows the shocking firings of Robert Griffin III and Samantha Ponder last month, just before football season.

One bright spot for Lowe is that the timing is good, as NBC and Amazon are stocking up on NBA talent before their league rights deals begin in 2025 (Amazon’s package assumes TNT’s lawsuit against the NBA is unsuccessful or settled).

The news about Lowe follows last week’s surprising news that ESPN’s lead NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski was leaving the company to become general manager of the men’s basketball team at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure.

“I grew up the son of a factory worker two miles from the ESPN campus and my only dream was to be a sportswriter for a living,” Wojnarowski wrote on X when he announced the news. “I got my first name at the Hartford Courant 37 years ago and I’ve never stopped chasing the thrill.

“This craft has changed my life, but I have decided to step away from ESPN and the news industry. I understand the commitment my role requires and it is an investment I am no longer forced to make. Time is finite and I want to spend it in a way that is more meaningful to me personally.”