Photographed by: Vincenzo Dimino
Styled by: Sue Choi
Written by: Hannah Militano

Malika Andrews is a force to be reckoned with – but from pressure, comes diamonds. At 29, the ESPN sportscaster is changing the game, with plenty of firsts under her belt. From being one of the youngest sideline reporters and hosting her weekday show NBA Today, to making history as the first woman to host the NBA Draft, Andrews is this all-star is still on the rise. 

As real as can be, a rare talent, and responsible in her journalistic efforts, Andrews embodies the authenticity of a natural diamond. For Only Natural Diamonds, the sportscaster packed on the diamond jewels from Melissa Kaye, Norman Silverman, Pomellato, and more.

She’s just wrapped up an Olympics broadcast when we hop on our phone call. Team USA has just faced off against the Serbian basketball team, and the Women’s Olympic Basketball team is playing Japan as we chat. 

“I have always loved sports,” Andrews tells Only Natural Diamonds. “Sports have been a part of our family fabric forever.” Raised by her father, a personal trainer, and her mother, an artist who also worked as a fitness instructor in Oakland, California, Andrews was encouraged to be active as a means of “fitness and fun” as a child – playing soccer, volleyball, and basketball, going skiing, and finding solace in riding horses. “I played every sport I could get my hands on,” she says.

A bona fide magpie since childhood, Andrews grabbed every friendship bracelet she could get her hands on as well. She recalls how her mother and aunts would layer on bracelets and bangles and how she attempted to replicate the look of arm candy with with friendship bracelets. “I was always the girl who wanted to be wearing five of them and all their cool textures and patterns instead of just one,” she says. “Maybe they didn’t really include diamonds then, but now I’ll include some here and there.” Andrews remembers how much she loved her mother’s wide array of earrings when she was younger, so now, she has three piercings in one ear, and six in the other just so she can load them up with jewels.

With a background in journalism, Andrews worked hard to get where she is today. It never occurred to her to merge her two passions until she attended college at the University of Portland and began diving into extracurriculars, like the school newspaper, The Beacon. “The only opening they had was in sports reporting,” Andrews explains. “I fell in love with it very quickly. It felt like a natural fit of two things that I have loved forever but didn’t necessarily envision myself marrying together.” After cutting her teeth as an intern at The Denver Post, she began as a James Reston Reporting Fellow in the sports department at The New York Times, and then joined The Chicago Tribune, covering the Bulls. She joined the team at ESPN in October 2018 as an online NBA writer. “I have gotten to learn so much,” she says of her experience on the network.

Now, she’s bringing players’ captivating stories to the fans through sideline interviews and sit-downs with athletes from Stephen Curry to Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Nikola Jokić. Working with athletes, Andrews has seen her fair share of natural diamonds and the brightest bling imaginable. “Allen Iverson wears these incredible chains that probably you can see from outer space, they’re so sparkly and incredible,” she tells me. “We have a lot of fun with jewelry on our set as well.” Her NBA Today co-hosts Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson like to wow their colleagues with some shocking diamond chains, wrist stacks, and more, putting her own maximalist sensibilities to the test.

We have a lot of fun
with jewelry on our set.

Andrews has even interviewed the famed jewelry designer Jason of Beverly Hills, responsible for some of the most mind-blowing natural diamond Championship rings one could imagine. “They’ve gotten insane and so intricate,” Andrews says, citing the Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl 56 championship rings. “You can twist it off the top and it reveals the SoFi Stadium inside, which is amazing.” The diamond and sapphire Golden State Warriors championship ring by Jason of Beverly Hills comes to mind for her as well. 

While Andrews may not have originally pictured herself as a sports broadcaster, her younger sister Kendra certainly did. “She likes to say that it was her idea first and this is something that she’d wanted to do for a long time. For me, I started at newspapers and writing was my first love.” Two years younger than Malika, Kendra Andrews covers the Golden State Warriors for ESPN. When speaking of her sister, Malika’s voice gleams with pride. “Truly, there is nothing that gives me more joy, there is nothing I’m more excited about than watching my sister,” she gushes. “She is my best friend. Can you imagine getting to work with your best friend every day? It’s the coolest thing.” 

Sports are a microcosm of society.

In 2021, Andrews was included in the esteemed Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Her Forbes profile shines a spotlight on her coverage from inside the 2020 NBA Bubble amid strict COVID-19 restrictions and points out how she was one of the youngest sideline reporters to ever cover an NBA Conference Finals telecast during the 2019-2020 season. As a host of NBA Today since 2021, she’s received praise for internally advocating for more nuanced coverage of important topics at ESPN, from race to gender politics. Andrews has emerged as a bold voice, bringing awareness to serious issues like the NBA’s COVID-19 precautions, allegations of violence against women, as well as Brittney Griner’s incarceration and subsequent journey home in 2022.

“I always aim to be three things. I aim to be accurate; I aim to be honest, and I aim to be fair,” Andrews explains. “I think that’s my guiding light, and sometimes that means reporting on subjects that are a little bit trickier or subjects that are hard to hear and reflect the complexity of the world that we are living in. Sports are a microcosm of society.” She adds, “As journalists, our primary duty is to the truth and the pursuit of truth. So, I always try to keep that in mind with those three pillars guiding me through.”

Andrews has forged a successful career in the male-dominated industry of sports media, but she’s not alone. “What I’ve discovered in sports is that there is this group of women — there is a sisterhood, and we may be small but we’re mighty,” says Andrews. “It has been really special to be a part of that cohort.” 

I always aim to be three things.
I aim to be accurate; I aim to be honest, and I aim to be fair.

Andrews has made a sport out of shattering glass ceilings, but she’s quick to acknowledge her peers, mentors, and those who came before her. She cites Hall of Fame broadcaster Doris Burke is on her “Mount Rushmore of sports journalism.” Andrews lists off the likes of Chiney Ogwumike, Holly Rowe, Andraya Carter, and Elle Duncan, saying, “I am constantly impressed and inspired by my colleagues that I get to work alongside every single day.”

In 2022, Malika Andrews became the first woman to ever host the NBA Draft and has now hosted it three years in a row. She says, “I may have been the first to have done that, but it’s something that so many women before me have been building toward. I just so happen to be the beneficiary of so many women’s hard work that came before me.”  Andrews adds, “They scrapped and clawed so that one of us could walk, so that another one of us could run, so that another one of us could host the NBA draft.” That same year she took home the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality/ Emerging On-Air Talent. “Now, I feel a responsibility and I hope to be able to help push our collective goal forward,” she says. “I stand on the shoulders of the giants and I hope to be a part of that story for the next generation of women in sports journalism. There are more and more of us, and it gives me so much joy and pride to see.” 

I’ve discovered in sports, there is this group of women – there is a sisterhood, and we may be small but we’re mighty.

I like to reward myself
with a piece of jewelry to
commemorate the moment.

Whether it’s a red carpet affair or an everyday occasion, Andrews finds a way to bring a little bling to the equation. In nearly all her broadcasts, the journalist can be seen wearing a dainty and dazzling diamond circular pendant necklace – a 25^th birthday gift from her fiancé and fellow reporter Dave McMenamin. “I wear it every day,” she says. “I feel naked when I don’t wear it. It’s just a little bit of sparkle that is really special to me.” McMenamin proposed to Andrews with an engagement ring, engraved with the message ‘I Love You,’ and signed off with his nickname, ‘Davo’ on the inside. She says, “I find that very funny. I love it and it makes me smile every time I think of it.”