Amazon Hires Taylor Rooks as NBA Host

Beginning in late 2025, Prime Video’s new 11-year deal to broadcast pro basketball kicks off, Amazon will continue employing its primary NBA studio host, Taylor Rooks, as a feature reporter and celebrity interviewer for pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage.

As the streamer completes its NBA broadcast staff, Rooks will join studio analyst Dirk Nowitzki and lead commentator Ian Eagle at Prime Video, according to Richard Deitsch of The Athletic.

Rooks, who has been providing long-form content for Thursday Night Football on Prime Video since 2022, will get the coveted position of reporting on the sport with which she is most familiar.

The 32-year-old has been hosting a digital interview show for TNT Sports for a number of years; it is currently known as Taylor Rooks X and is available on Max. As a result, NBA players now turn to him as their go-to news source. In addition, she hosts Joy Taylor’s podcast, Two Personal. Rooks made his NBA sideline reporting debut for TNT this fall.

JUST IN: Amazon has a verbal agreement with Taylor Rooks to be the lead host of its NBA pregame, halftime and postgame shows, sources tell @richarddeitsch.

Details:https://t.co/VnoRQzKVxN pic.twitter.com/hNkuJN2CPo

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) December 16, 2024

Taylor Rooks one of the many younger hosts being added

Since ESPN removed Rachel Nichols in 2020, there has been a gap in the NBA, and it wouldn’t be shocking if Rooks were to land significant interviews for Amazon’s studio show. After a traffic stop outside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami that descended into violence before a Week 1 game, Rooks had an eye-opening conversation with Tyreek Hill in September.

Rooks joins the youth trend in NBA studio hosting alongside Adam Lefkoe of TNT and Malika Andrews of ESPN. One of the faces of Amazon’s first-ever broadcast package of a high-inventory sport like the NBA, Rooks, who formerly anchored college football studio coverage at the Big Ten Network and SNY, will have the opportunity to make her mark on basketball.

Beginning in October 2025, Rooks will oversee coverage of the NBA Cup elimination stages, several conference finals, and a special Black Friday game on Prime Video. A WNBA package that includes several WNBA Finals will also be available exclusively on Prime Video starting in 2026. To broadcast professional basketball games for the first time, Amazon and TNT Sports have inked an 11-year, nearly $20 billion pact.

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