Fans of the NBA and its coverage on ESPN were given a bit of a shock last summer when one of the network’s studio hosts announced that she was getting married to a co-worker.

After years of keeping their relationship under wraps, ESPN host Malika Andrews dropped pH๏τos of her marriage to ESPN NBA reporter Dave McMenamin at a ceremony in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Appearing on the ‘Straight to Cam’ podcast, Andrews revealed that the two of them had agreed to keep their engagement of nearly two years private – all while ignoring and deflecting any rumors of a relationship.

‘We’ve been together for seven years now [since 2018],’ Andrews told Los Angeles Sparks star Cameron Brink and Sydel Curry-Lee, who is married to Suns guard Damion Lee and is the younger sister of Steph and Seth Curry.

‘We met when I was not working at ESPN. We met when I was working at The New York Times as a print reporter. He was living in Cleveland at the time. 

‘It was a long time ago. I think when people don’t have information, often times they fill in the blanks on whatever they can come up with.’

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“Girl you’re in loveee!” Malika opens up to Cam & Sydel about her special connection with her husband Dave 🥹❤️

♬ original sound – Straight to Cam

ESPN host Malika Andrews revealed how she kept her engagement out of the public eye

After being engaged to ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin for two years, they married in August

The couple had been engaged for almost two years before exchanging vows on August 24 of last year, as seen in pH๏τos from Vogue.

They had not previously publicly announced their engagement.

McMenamin has been at ESPN since 2009 while Andrews joined the company from the New York Times in 2018, the same year she started dating him. 

Andrews explained that while those they were close to were aware of the engagement, they decided to not make any public mention of it. 

‘Anyone who knows us, we’ve known each other socially. It wasn’t a secret. I always like to sort of delineate between private and secret. We are private,’ she said.

She continued: ‘Anybody who knew us, even a fan in the arena, you could see us walking down the street together, we would walk into arenas together… So if you observed us in person you would know, but it wasn’t something that was a secret. 

‘It was private [as in] we didn’t post it on social media. That was sort of the line that we made. I wore my big sparkly ring… and it was just not something that it was like, ‘here are my proposal pH๏τos,’ not that there’s anything wrong with that.’

In the interview on the podcast, it was clear that Andrews was truly head-over-heels for her husband.

Andrews said those close to them knew of the engagement, but they didn’t share it elsewhere

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When asked about when she realized that he was ‘the one’, Andrews replied, ‘I don’t remember a time in my life where he wasn’t [the one].’

She added: ‘He’s my best friend and the person I want advice from on anything in my life whether that is professionally… with my family or something silly… I don’t remember a time when he wasn’t that for all of me.’

‘He’s the kindest person, he’s the smartest person I know, he’s the most considerate person I know,’ Andrews continued. 

‘And somehow in this big job and big world he has the time to make every single person he’s around feel like the most important person in the room. 

‘And that’s something I’ve tried to learn from him… He has infinite patience for people… the way that he covers the league… I just really admire him.

‘Not to mention he has beautiful blue eyes, they’re really pretty. He’s just the best person I know. He’s just always been that.’

Brink laughed at that statement and remarked, ‘Girl, you’re in love.’