The Grantland Basketball Hour was a primetime show on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN on ABC in which sports and pop culture journalist, Bill Simmons and sports media journalist Jalen Rose discussed current events surrounding the NBA. [1] [2] The show began on October 21, 2014, and was contracted by ESPN for 18 episodes to cover the 2014–15 NBA season. [1]
LeBron Raymone James Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is considered to be one of the greatest basketball players in history and is often compared to Michael Jordan in debates over the greatest basketball player of all time. James is the all-time leading scorer in NBA history and ranks fourth in career assists. He has won four NBA championships, and has competed in 10 NBA Finals. He has four MVP awards, four Finals MVP awards, and two Olympic gold medals. He has been named an All-Star 19 times, selected to the All-NBA Team 18 times, to the All-Defensive Team six times, and was a runner-up for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award twice in his career.
Tracy Lamar McGrady Jr. is an American former professional basketball player, best known for his career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). McGrady is a seven-time NBA All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, two-time NBA scoring champion, and winner of the NBA Most Improved Player Award in 2001. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2017. McGrady is regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards in NBA history.
William John Simmons III is an American sports writer who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website The Ringer. Simmons first gained attention with his website as "The Boston Sports Guy" and was recruited by ESPN in 2001, where he eventually operated the website Grantland and worked until 2015. At ESPN, he wrote for ESPN.com, hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, and was an analyst for two years on NBA Countdown.
Rachel Michele Nichols is an American journalist and sportscaster. She has covered the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), professional tennis, college sports, the Olympics and is most notable for her work with the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2014, Sports Illustrated called Nichols "the country's most impactful and prominent female sports journalist".
Peter Vecsey is an American sports columnist and analyst, specializing in basketball. In his childhood, he attended Archbishop Molloy High School, in Queens, New York, and graduated in 1961. Vecsey had written a column on the NBA for the New York Post. He was formerly an analyst for TBS and NBC and is currently an analyst for NBA TV. His writing style has been described as vicious, combative and containing cruel wit. In the 1960s, he served in the United States Army Special Forces.
Chris Connelly is an American sports and entertainment reporter who currently works for ESPN as a contributor to its E:60 newsmagazine. He was also the interim editor-in-chief of Grantland.com, replacing Bill Simmons, before ESPN shuttered the site in October 2015.
Ryen Russillo is an American sports journalist and sports host who for many years hosted a popular radio show on ESPN. Russillo left ESPN in 2019 to join The Ringer.
The Starters was a podcast, blog, and television program that analyzed, and often satirized, the National Basketball Association (NBA). The show was written and hosted by Canadians Tas Melas and Phil Elder, Australian Leigh Ellis and American Trey Kerby. It was shot, edited, and produced by Canadians Jason Doyle and Matt Osten.
30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts.
Mark Titus is an author, podcast host, and former walk-on basketball player at Ohio State.
Grantland was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. Grantland was named after famed early-20th-century sportswriter Grantland Rice (1880–1954).
Benjamin David Simmons is an Australian professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one season with the LSU Tigers, after which he was named a consensus first-team All-American and the USBWA National Freshman of the Year. Simmons was selected with the first overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. After sitting out a year due to an injured right foot, he was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2018 and was selected three times to the NBA All-Star Game. As the result of a holdout from the 76ers following the 2020–21 season, which led him to be traded to the Nets, Simmons is the most-fined player in NBA history.
Adam Hootnick is a director and producer of film, television, and other short-form content. His work includes What Carter Lost, UNSETTLED, Destination: Team USA, Son of the Congo, Judging Jewell, and Pro Day. He is currently developing his first narrative feature film.
Juliet Elinor Litman is an American journalist, editor, and American media personality. As of 2017, she is the Head of Production at The Ringer, Bill Simmons' latest online enterprise. Litman is the former host of the Right Reasons and NBA After Dark podcasts and was also formerly the Special Projects Editor at Grantland.
Josh Swade is an American documentary filmmaker and author, working primarily in the sports and music genres. His feature films include Ricky Powell: The Individualist, about street photographer Ricky Powell, which premiered on Showtime in 2021; One & Done, about basketball player Ben Simmons, which premiered on Showtime in 2016; and the 2012 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary There's No Place Like Home. He has directed and produced several ESPN 30 for 30 Shorts, and several short films on popular musicians, including The Black Keys, Rick Rubin, Sheryl Crow, Major Lazer, and Gary Clark Jr. He also wrote the book The Holy Grail of Hoops: One Fan's Quest to Buy the Original Rules of Basketball.
Zachary Curtis Lowe is an American sportswriter, journalist, and podcaster. After starting his journalistic career covering the criminal justice system in his home state of Connecticut, Lowe transitioned to basketball reporting and is today considered one of the premier columnists covering the NBA.
William Jerome Barnwell Jr. is an American sportswriter and staff writer for ESPN.com. He has written about a wide range of sports including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf and mixed martial arts.
The Ringer is a sports and pop culture website and podcast network, founded by sportswriter Bill Simmons in 2016 and owned by Spotify since 2020.
Antonio Davon Blakeney is an American professional basketball player for the Jiangsu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the LSU Tigers.
Kevin Robert Wildes is an American sports television producer, personality, sports radio talk show host, and podcaster. Wildes currently serves as a co-host on Fox Sports 1's First Things First (FTF) alongside Nick Wright and Chris Broussard.