Marc Stein is good at what he does, and what Marc Stein does is break news on the NBA.
And that's good news for the New York Times because according to Alex Putterman and Ben Koo of Awful Announcing, the veteran NBA reporter is close to signing a deal to join the New York Times.
Of course, it's worth noting that Stein is a former ESPN employee, and he was one of the more high-profile reporters/personalities that were let go this past April when ESPN performed a roster purge. Not only was Stein a prolific reporter for ESPN, but he also worked on television for the four-letter network. Before ESPN, he was a Mavericks beat writer for The Dallas Morning News, so he without a doubt has the pedigree for this high-profile role with The New York Times.
Speaking of high-profile, Stein is undoubtedly ending up in a better position than many of his contemporaries who were also let go from ESPN. Awful Announcing has the scoop on what former ESPN employees have had to face since the layoffs. They also pass on that they feel it's only a matter of time before this hire becomes public:
"It's unclear how close Stein and the Times are to finalizing their deal, but with training camp underway and the Times not a primary competitor to ESPN, it would seem likely Stein's agreement is only a matter of time. We will update this post as more information becomes available."
Awful Announcing seems to believe that Stein will be joining the Times as a national NBA reporter, and there's little reason to believe otherwise.
