As the WNBA continues to surge in popularity, the league’s TV ratings have skyrocketed. During the 2024 WNBA season, regular-season games averaged a record 1.2 million viewers across ESPN platforms — a 170% increase year-over-year.
After the most-watched WNBA season in 24 years, the league has a ton of momentum entering the 2025 campaign. With more eyes on WNBA broadcasts than ever before, let’s break down the commentators and analysts on ESPN and ABC.
Breaking Down the WNBA Commentators On ESPN and ABC
ESPN’s lead WNBA broadcast team is the powerhouse trio of Ryan Ruocco, Holly Rowe, and Rebecca Lobo, who are entering their 13th season together. (ESPN’s secondary WNBA crew consists of Pam Ward, LaChina Robinson, and Angel Gray.)
“WNBA Countdown” consists of host Malika Andrews and analysts Monica McNutt, Carolyn Peck, Chiney Ogwumike, and Andraya Carter. For certain editions of “WNBA Countdown,” Elle Duncan and Christine Williamson handle hosting duties.
Other contributors to ESPN and ABC’s WNBA broadcast coverage include Sam Ravech, Ari Chambers, Michael Voepel, Alexa Philippou, Kendra Andrews, and Kevin Pelton.
Ryan Ruocco
Ryan Ruocco, ESPN’s lead WNBA play‑by‑play announcer, returns for his 13th year in this role. Since joining ESPN in 2008, Ruocco has served as a play-by-play commentator across WNBA, NBA, and NCAA women’s basketball games. He is the lead play-by-play commentator during the WNBA Finals.
Ruocco’s resume also includes periodic NFL play-by-play on ESPN Radio as well as college football play-by-play on ESPN. Earlier in his career, Ruocco co-hosted ESPN New York Radio’s mid-day show.
Rebecca Lobo
Sitting to Ruocco’s right is Lobo, the former UConn superstar and 1999 WNBA All‑Star whose legendary career lends every broadcast instant credibility.
Lobo led UConn to an undefeated national championship in 1995 and won NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors, while also winning every Player of the Year award.
She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Lobo joined ESPN in 2004 as a WNBA and women’s college basketball analyst and reporter.
Holly Rowe
A pioneer among women in sports journalism, Rowe is a Hall-of-Famer who is widely respected as a versatile broadcaster.
Rowe is a reporter on a number of high-profile events and programming, including WNBA games, ABC Saturday Night Football, NCAA Women’s Final Four, NCAA Women’s College World Series, and NCAA indoor and beach volleyball national championships.
Rowe has also provided play-by-play commentary for women’s college basketball, softball, volleyball and gymnastics, as well as covering soccer, swimming, track and field and the Little League World Series of baseball and softball for ESPN.
In 2021, Rowe made history as the Utah Jazz’s first female commentator during a game against the Sacramento Kings.
Carolyn Peck
As a former WNBA and college basketball head coach and general manager, Carolyn Peck brings an unmatched strategic perspective to the broadcast. Peck initially joined ESPN in 2001 and has had several stints with the network in between coaching gigs. She is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
She is an analyst for ESPN’s WNBA coverage and SEC Network’s women’s college basketball coverage. In 2025, Peck was honored with the WBCA Mel Greenberg Media Award. Prior to coaching and broadcasting, Peck played basketball at Vanderbilt University from 1985-88 and averaged 10.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Elle Duncan
A “SportsCenter” anchor and women’s basketball specialist, Duncan often hosts ABC’s “WNBA Countdown.” Duncan joined the network in May 2016. She also serves as the women’s college basketball host for ESPN’s College GameDay.
In addition to her hosting duties with ESPN, Duncan also hosts the semiweekly “The Elle Duncan Show” on YouTube.
Chiney Ogwumike
Ogwumike is a former WNBA star who is now an analyst on “WNBA Countdown.”
After winning the John R. Wooden Award at Stanford, she became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award. She became a two-time WNBA All-Star (2014, 2018) and the WNBA Players Association vice president.
In addition to her “WNBA Countdown” role, she also appears on “NBA Today,” “SportsCenter,” “First Take,” “Get Up,” NCAA Women’s Basketball studio shows, plus Wednesday editions of “NBA Countdown.”
Andraya Carter
Young, energetic, and unafraid to question convention, Carter joins Ogwumike and Duncan on the ABC-based “WNBA Countdown” for the second season. Carter also breaks down WNBA news on both “NBA Today” and “NBA Countdown.”
Carter joined ESPN in 2018 as a game analyst, and she is currently the only analyst that covers NBA, WNBA, women’s college basketball and men’s college basketball. Prior to becoming a broadcaster, Carter played on the Lady Vols and was a three-year letterwinner.
Christine Williamson
A “SportsCenter” anchor with a penchant for human‑interest storytelling, Williamson can be seen across ESPN’s platforms. Since joining the network in October 2019, she hosts “SportsCenter” and plenty of digital shows, including SC on Snap, Countdown to GameDay, Hoop Streams, Rankings Reaction, The Wrap-Up, The Heisman Show, and more.
Malika Andrews
Already a marquee name on “NBA Today” and “NBA Countdown,” Andrews also hosts the L.A. edition of “WNBA Countdown” on ESPN while flanked by McNutt, Peck, Ogwumike, and Carter. She is the face of ESPN’s NBA studio coverage.
Andrews joined ESPN in October 2018 and, in May 2022, she won the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Personality – Emerging On-Air Talent during the 43rd Annual Sports Emmy Awards.
Monica McNutt
McNutt appears on “WNBA Countdown,” but she is also a game analyst and reporter during WNBA, NBA, and women’s college basketball games. She appears on ESPN’s coverage of the NBA Finals and NBA Draft, while also appearing on shows such as “Around the Horn, “First Take,” and “NBA Today.”
Since joining ESPN in 2019, her role has expanded each year. She played college basketball for the Georgetown Hoyas prior to getting into broadcasting.
McNutt and Lobo are disgusting. I’ll never listen to them again.