A new chapter was written this week in the ongoing rivalry between Maria Taylor and Rachel Nichols.
A few months ago damning audio leaked out of Nichols complaining that Taylor, who was still with ESPN at the time, was encroaching on her NBA responsibilities.
Although the audio was essentially recorded without Nichols’ consent, many fans immediately turned on her. Taylor, who has since left ESPN for NBC, never forgave Nichols for what transpired.
This past week, ESPN announced that it was cancelling Nichols’ show on the network and pulling her from her NBA-related duties. Nichols responded to the entire situation about as well as anyone could.
Unfortunately, it appears Taylor has opted to respond to the situation in far pettier fashion. This is what she reportedly posted on social media in the immediate aftermath of Nichols’ cancellation:
Maria Taylor’s Instagram story after the Rachel Nichols news 😂😂 pic.twitter.com/OX6j3Pq0Za
— Tyler 💭 (@HeckTyIer) August 25, 2021
Fans seemed divided in their reactions.
I don’t think anyone comes out looking good in this. Even Maria Taylor. She signed with NBC for the olympics and hardly anyone watched. Also what other big events do they do? Certainly no basketball. SNF? But that’s only a few weeks out of the year. Rachel lost but nobody “won”.
— Alan Kish (@akishjr) August 26, 2021
Flawless victory
— Martin Williams (@martinwrote) August 26, 2021
S A V A G E
— LebronExposé (@BeeradLakers) August 27, 2021
The fallout from this whole mess has been insane. Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant had some strong words on what happened, and bizarre rumors began to leak out about Nichols being involved in romantic relationships with NBA stars. It got very ugly, very quickly.
Where everyone goes from here is unclear. Nichols, although she is hated by some like Taylor and her fans, still has some notable friends in the NBA world. Upon winning his first ever championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo even went out of his way to give her a special gift. Those are the kinds of relationships she has.
It really wouldn’t be all that shocking to see Nichols bounce back strong. And when she does, Taylor may wish she handled this entire matter with a little more grace.
Ana Montana gets brutally honest about LaMelo Ball. https://t.co/68kaZAvlBs
— Game 7 (@game7__) August 23, 2021
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
