{"id":433385,"date":"2026-01-27T20:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/433385\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T20:18:09","slug":"caitlin-clark-to-make-broadcasting-debut-for-nba-on-nbc-ahead-of-lebron-lakers-vs-brunson-knicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/433385\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark to Make Broadcasting Debut for NBA on NBC Ahead of LeBron, Lakers vs. Brunson, Knicks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">The 2026 WNBA season is still months out, but fans will soon get to see Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark on their television screens. <\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">NBC Sports <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcsports.com\/pressbox\/press-releases\/caitlin-clark-to-join-nbc-sports-as-special-contributor-for-basketball-night-in-america-before-sunday-night-basketball-debuts-february-1-at-madison-square-garden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">announced<\/a> Tuesday the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year will be a special contributor to its first Basketball Night in America broadcast prior to Sunday&#8217;s battle between the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Clark will be back on March 29 to help lead NBC&#8217;s coverage into the Knicks&#8217; road matchup with the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Maria Taylor will host Basketball Night in America and work alongside Hall of Famers Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">&#8220;I&#8217;m really excited to be part of the\u00a0Basketball Night in America\u00a0crew this season,&#8221; Clark said. &#8220;Carmelo, Vince, and Tracy are legends of the game and Maria is a true professional. It will be really fun to join them a few times this season.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Sam Flood, executive producer for NBC Sports, confirmed the two-time All-Star will work on the scene at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">&#8220;She&#8217;s going to be in a basketball arena, like she always is, and in her comfort zone \u2014 which is on the court talking about the sport she loves and the sport that she shines in,&#8221; he told the Associated Press&#8217; <a class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-inherit MuiLink-root MuiLink-underlineAlways MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__ui__link__medium_strong css-lu48cp\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nbc-caitlin-clark-sunday-night-basketball-c163164fbd96d77d2dda6a0511d3c029\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Tim Reynolds<\/a>. &#8220;So, what better place for her to debut than in Madison Square Garden with this a great team of talent around her? We&#8217;re confident she&#8217;ll thrive, because a basketball court is her second home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">After a record-setting rookie season, Clark encountered a sophomore slump in 2025. Injuries limited her to 13 games, and she averaged 16.5 points on just 36.7 percent shooting, including 27.9 percent from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Despite missing the dynamic guard, the Fever pushed the eventual champion Las Vegas Aces to five games in the WNBA semifinals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MuiTypography-root MuiTypography-bp_small__body__article__medium css-1vqr2el\">Clark&#8217;s down year did little to diminish her star power. Her presence is likely to boost Basketball Night in America&#8217;s audience out of the gate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 WNBA season is still months out, but fans will soon get to see Indiana Fever star&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-433385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}