ESPN’s Malika Andrews says her first dream was ‘crushed’ by New York Times

Before Malika Andrews’ meteoric rise at ESPN, she first hit rock bottom with the New York Times.

In an interview with The Post’s Andrew Marchand, Andrews talked about her formative years in the industry and how she made it to the heights that she is at now, but one particular moment with the New York Times had “crushed” the reporter.

“When I went to the New York Times, I had been so fortunate to have so many yeses,” Andrews said on the “Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast.”

“The internship was three months and I stayed for three months, and then they extended me for another three months, and then I got offered a full-time job.

“Half of my mentors said to take it and half didn’t and I didn’t because the New York Times was my dream job and I wanted to continue to chase that.”

“Then I got extended another three months, but the New York Times, as it should be, is a union paper and so in a year, they said, ‘Working for the New York Times is like a Supreme Court justice seat; it’s a seat for life and you’re not ready.’ And I was crushed.

“It was the first truly crushing no of my career.”

While the 28-year-old moved past the crushing rejection at the paper with a year-long stint reporting at the Chicago Tribune, Andrews, at the time, was hung up on her dream having “failed.”

“I was so worried about feeling like I had failed,” Andrews said. “At the time, it was very en vogue to do the ‘life update’… and I was too nervous to hit send on the tweet to say I was leaving. I made someone else, made my friend that I was with do it. Not because I wasn’t super excited.

“But for me, because it was this personal goal that I had, that I kept, that my aunt who I had idolized my entire life is from Spain, and lives in London and even there, they get the international New York Times.

“I felt small. It was the first time that I set out to do something that I wasn’t able to do. … I was 21 years old and it just crushed me.”

She then joined ESPN in 2018 as an online writer before transitioning into her many roles with the company, including as a sideline reporter for NBA games and host of “NBA Today.”

And maybe, most notably, she became the first woman ever to host the NBA Draft when she did the honors last year.

Past her woes with the Times, Andrews — who thought she’d only work at newspapers her whole life — said she’s grateful she’s in a position to be able to tell stories and do them “justice.”

“There’s no feeling like telling an incredible story, and the person whose story you told feeling like you did it justice,” she said. “And that doesn’t mean they agree with you, it doesn’t mean they love it, it doesn’t mean you didn’t push them, it doesn’t mean you don’t ask hard questions.

“There’s no feeling like writing or producing or putting together an interview and seeing it come to fruition.”