Media News

Sports Illustrated Expands Editorial Staff

NEW YORK — Sports Illustrated, the venerable sports magazine, announced the addition of new full-time staff, with an initial focus on expanding its NBA editorial team.

Chris Herring will join SI on Feb. 15 as a senior writer. Herring most recently wrote for ESPN and FiveThirtyEight and prior to that was an NBA reporter with The Wall Street Journal, where he covered the New York Knicks. He is also an adjunct professor at Northwestern.

A long-time publication of Time Inc., Sports Illustrated was acquired by Maven in 2019 and laid off several top writers to cut costs. A once-weekly magazine, Sports Illustrated is now published 16 times per year.

“Chris is a tremendous talent, one of the best and most creative NBA reporters in the business,” said Ryan Hunt, co-editor in chief of Sports Illustrated. “He’s a fantastic addition to the growing list of outstanding journalists we have at SI. We are thrilled to welcome him to our team.”

“I feel incredibly fortunate to join SI’s deepening roster,” said Herring. “I’m humbled to write for an outlet that I spent so much time reading as a kid.”

Herring joins Chris Mannix, Rohan Nadkarni and NBA draft analyst Jeremy Woo, as well as two additional journalists who recently joined the NBA staff:

  • Howard Beck joined as a senior writer in December. Winner of several APSA and PBWA awards, Beck has previously written for B/R Mag, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Daily News.
  • Michael Pina joined as writer/reporter in January and will continue to be the co-host of SI’s popular NBA podcast, Open Floor. He will be a recurring guest on SI’s NBA video show while covering the league’s day-to-day developments on- and off-court. He is also passionate about covering the intersection of sports, race and social justice. Pina was a contributor for GQ and FiveThirtyEight and an NBA reporter for Vice, Bleacher Report and SB Nation.

SI’s NBA beat has amassed a dedicated following, helping to drive growth across the site. SI.com drew more than 38 million online readers in January, the largest monthly audience in site history.

In addition to new NBA staff, SI recently welcomed three prominent sports journalists who joined at the beginning of the year:

  • Chris Almeida, staff editor — He works closely with Adam Duerson on the Daily Cover and is the editor for SI’s Extra Mustard section. Almeida was most recently an editor on The Ringer’s sports and culture verticals, while also occasionally writing about tennis and other sports/topics and working on podcasts.
  • Kate Fagan, special contributor — A New York Times best-selling author, Fagan spent seven years as a columnist and feature writer for ESPNW, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. She will write a selection of feature stories for the magazine and SI’s digital properties.
  • Josh Rosenblat, newsletter editor — Rosenblat will work to grow SI’s newsletter portfolio. He joins SI from The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he was part of the audience development team and served as the leading voice for The Inquirer’s flagship newsletter.

SI is focusing on continuing to expand its staff and delivering premium stories, photos, videos, podcasts, and breaking news that are important to its more than 30 million digital fans and its more than 1.7 million current magazine subscribers.