RealGM

The Ringer has hired Zach Lowe, who was laid off by ESPN last September shortly before the start of the 24-25 NBA season. Lowe had been with ESPN for 12 years as he had joined Grantland following his stint at Sports Illustrated. 

Bill Simmons, who recently signed an extension with The Ringer's parent company Spotify, made the announcement on his own podcast. Simmons and Lowe worked together at Grantland and the pair have appeared on each other's podcasts several times over the past decade. 

Lowe will begin podcasting for The Ringer with this week ahead of the start of the 2025 NBA playoffs.

Lowe was reportedly making more than $1 million per year on his contract with ESPN. 

The Ringer has also hired former ESPN talent over the past few months such as Todd McShay, Kirk Goldsberry and David Jacoby. 

Via RealGM Staff Report

Love this

Finally! Zach is top of the list of best people covering basketball, I can’t wait for him to come back.

It’s insane that Lowe barely made $1 million/yr at ESPN while Stephen A Smith just got a $20M/yr contract by ESPN.

Not one person in the entire world would tell you that SAS knows more about sports than Lowe. Including SAS himself.

I expected this

Revived wrote:It’s insane that Lowe barely made $1 million/yr at ESPN while Stephen A Smith just got a $20M/yr contract by ESPN.

Not one person in the entire world would tell you that SAS knows more about sports than Lowe. Including SAS himself.

100%
Really shows you what ESPN values

Zach might be the single most knowledgeable and respected basketball analyst. He was criminally undervalued by ESPN because he doesn't scream or give hot takes.

deepeeenn wrote:

Revived wrote:It’s insane that Lowe barely made $1 million/yr at ESPN while Stephen A Smith just got a $20M/yr contract by ESPN.

Not one person in the entire world would tell you that SAS knows more about sports than Lowe. Including SAS himself.

100%
Really shows you what ESPN values

ontnut wrote:Zach might be the single most knowledgeable and respected basketball analyst. He was criminally undervalued by ESPN because he doesn't scream or give hot takes.

I can't watch ESPN for this very reason. I couldn't even watch Zack on ESPN because they asked him to yell and it felt forced. One Stephen A. is too many. It will be good to hear Zach in a situation where he can be his own self!

Finally! We missed his analysis on the Luka Deal.

Revived wrote:It’s insane that Lowe barely made $1 million/yr at ESPN while Stephen A Smith just got a $20M/yr contract by ESPN.

Not one person in the entire world would tell you that SAS knows more about sports than Lowe. Including SAS himself.

It's really not that insane. True basketball fans, yes, they understand and know the value of someone like Lowe over Smith - it's clear as day. But who brings in the views, and effectively the money for these networks? The same in the movie industry, the best actors aren't the ones with the biggest deals, it's the ones that know how to market themselves, and have a big enough following that they bring in the box office.

And to be honest, Smith gets a lot of hate, and it mostly happened once his money got larger and larger, but the guy has already brought the energy and work ethic when he was a nobody. The guy is a worker, and he has worked on his brand, and hasn't been some overnight success, he has put himself in a position to earn the salary he is on.

Zach to his credit stays in his lane, and isn't going to try to be on every radio or tv show to gives his opinion, just to cement his presence on various platforms like Smith, and that's perfectly fine, but Smith puts in the work and I give him all the credit in the world for building up his brand to command the type of money he is making. Good for him.

deepeeenn wrote:

Revived wrote:It’s insane that Lowe barely made $1 million/yr at ESPN while Stephen A Smith just got a $20M/yr contract by ESPN.

Not one person in the entire world would tell you that SAS knows more about sports than Lowe. Including SAS himself.

100%
Really shows you what ESPN values

These shows cater to the casual fans. They love the hot takes and the drama.

It’s like Geraldo and Oprah, but for sports fans. Same age demographics too lol