Bobby Marks has signed a multiyear contract extension with ESPN to remain a studio analyst and front office insider. Marks began working in media with Yahoo Sports when both Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania were at the company. Marks followed Wojnarowski to ESPN in 2017.
“How the relationship with Woj worked was he was certainly our primary news breaker, and then I would kind of come out on the top and say, ‘How does this impact the team? How does this impact the player? What is next with the team?’’ Marks said. “And I’m still doing that; that role hasn’t changed at all here. But there is also an element where I am more comfortable, and certainly, as we’ve seen since he left in September, where I can go out and break news.”
Wojnarowski retired in September with Charania being hired by ESPN as his replacement a few weeks later. Zach Lowe, who frequently hosted Marks on his podcast, was also laid off by ESPN shortly after Wojnarowski’s departure.
“I said this to Shams when he started, I guess in October, my role is not to compete with you,” Marks said. “My role is basically to kind of be the setup man. I’ve said that to all our writers: think of it as if we’re making a movie. I’m going to write the screenplay and then you guys are going to act the part, or we’re going to hand it off to our director, and go from there, I’m going to be behind the scenes and help you as much as you can. However, there are times where, you know, I’m going to report news.’’
