NBA Writer

NBA Writer – Basketball Network

Location: Remote Type: Contract / Freelance Reports to: Editor / Managing Editor

Basketball Network covers the NBA past, present, and future. From Xs and Os to untold off-court stories, insights and breaking news.

About the role

This role consists of:

Breaking and latest news – trades, injuries, press conference quotes, whatever blows up on a Tuesday night. And there's the evergreen stories – the 1998 Finals, the Shaq-Kobe fallout, the careers people half-remember and want to read about properly.

We're looking for a writer who can work both. Someone who can turn a breaking story around in 20 minutes without the copy falling apart, and then spend the next morning on a piece that still pulls traffic three years from now.

This is a writing job first. Not a rewriting job, not an aggregation job.

What you'll be writing:

News and reaction (the fast clock)

• Same-day coverage of trades, signings, injuries, suspensions, and front-office moves
• Quote-driven stories off podcasts, pressers, and interviews — with the context that makes the quote matter
• Game and series reaction that gets past the box score
• Fast-moving stories where being early and being right both count

Evergreen and archive (the slow clock)

• Retrospectives on players, teams, rivalries, and seasons
• "What actually happened" pieces on moments that got flattened into myth
• Career reassessments, era comparisons, and the arguments that never fully close
• Features built to be found months and years after they publish

Most weeks are a mix of both. You should be comfortable switching gears in the same day.

What we're looking for:

Native-level English. This is non-negotiable and it's the first thing we screen for. Clean, idiomatic, rhythmically confident prose – writing that reads like a person, not a translation and not a template. If your work needs a heavy edit to sound natural, this isn't the right fit.

Deep NBA knowledge across eras. You have a deep understanding of the league. You can name the role players, not just the stars. You can tell when a stat is telling the truth and when it isn't.

Speed without slop. You can file a clean 500 words on a breaking story fast, and it doesn't come back covered in edits.

A voice. You have takes and you can defend them. You're not writing to avoid being wrong.

Reliability. You hit deadlines, you answer messages, you don't disappear mid-week.

Nice to have

• Published clips at an established sports outlet
• A sense for search — headlines and angles that people are actually looking for
• Experience with [CMS], basic SEO, or social copy
• A beat, a niche, or an era you know better than most

What we offer

• A large, engaged basketball audience from day one
• Real say in what you write – we'd rather you chase the story you care about
• Fast, direct editing. No committee.
• Competitive pay

How to apply

To be considered, please send:

1. Two or three links to your best NBA writing
2. Attach a CV
3. [email protected]

No cover letter. The clips are the cover letter.

Shortlisted writers will be asked to complete one paid test assignment.