Many observers thought Nichols asked tough, fair questions of Cuban during the showESPN
Rachel Nichols' interview with Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban about the club's front-office culture was "one of the most telling, interesting, and thorough interviews" ever seen on ESPN, according to Ben Koo of AWFUL ANNOUNCING. The thing that "stood out the most was that this wasn’t aimed to be a PR-motivated drive-by interview and apology." Cuban "got grilled for more than half an hour." The questions were "fair," and Cuban "did try to weasel out of a tough answer, Nichols would follow up immediately." She was "fair, composed, and unbeholding to any agenda." She gave Cuban "no easy out nor any reason to indignantly exit the interview" (AWFULANNOUNCING.com, 9/19). In Ft. Worth, Peter Dawson writes Nichols "put Cuban on the spot." She asked him questions about the "long litany of deviant behavior that occurred within the walls of his team’s business operations building for over 15 years" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 9/20). In Dallas, Kevin Sherrington wrote Nichols "asked tough questions, the right questions and Cuban had no good answers." Cuban "looked whipped on TV." Sherrington: "Eyes down, tone soft, he even appeared to break down at one point" (DALLASNEWS.com, 9/19).
NICHOLS ON POINT: The Washington Post's Tim Bontemps: "Not that we needed any more proof of this, but incredible job by @Rachel__Nichols today with this interview with Mark Cuban today." Dallas-based KRLD-FM's Nick Neppach: "Nichols is an outstanding broadcaster. Handled all of that incredibly." SB Nation's Alex Gold: "This is a hell of an interview." The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach: "One thing that jumps out while watching @Rachel__Nichols interview Mark Cuban right now is how effective it can be to literally read/quote from an investigative report -- to see that person's reactions. Very telling." Awful Announcing's Koo: "I don’t want to give too much credit to Cuban but compared to [Urban] Meyer, this is a much better look. Taking his licks and not ducking anything. Sincerely pained by mistakes made and not shying away from talking about them." ESPN's Pablo Torre: "Nichols interviewing Mark Cuban on The Jump right now is a TV journalism clinic." ESPN Producer Declan Goff: "She’s so good at her job. Whether you’re in college or a veteran in this business, she should be the No. 1 person you should look up to and try to emulate. Phenomenal stuff in this Mark Cuban interview."
