Alexa Philippou initially planned to become an international correspondent, but the lure of sports proved too strong. The Stanford graduate and political science major is ESPN’s women’s basketball writer, covering college basketball and the WNBA. Philippou joined The Worldwide Leader in Sports in 2022, having served as the Hartford Courant’s beat reporter for the UConn Huskies and the Connecticut Sun since 2019. This year, she is one of Awful Announcing’s rising stars in sports media for 2026.
The WNBA season has just begun after an off-season dominated by labor negotiations. We caught up with Philippou, 30, to discuss her career and women’s professional basketball.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
How difficult was the transition to TV?
Alexa Philippou: “I hadn’t done a ton of TV before joining ESPN. They had me do a SportsCenter hit in the first week, and I felt like I was thrown into the fire. Obviously, in that moment, they supported me and helped me get up to speed and ready to go. But it’s been such a joy to do more TV over the years and to become more and more comfortable with it, something I’m still learning and know I can get even better at.”
What do you recall from your on-camera ESPN debut?
“It was when Paige Bueckers, a player I covered extensively in my old job, was returning from an injury midseason in February. So, luckily, it was a topic I was familiar with.
“I had to drive back from Baltimore. I was home for a speaking engagement at my high school. It was a very stressful day because of travel issues. I couldn’t make my flight, then had to drive back and figure out someone to watch the dog and whatever else. And then, of course, I did my first-ever TV hit on ESPN. I think we might have done two hits. I remember at least one of them was taped. So I think I messed up at first, and they let me redo it, which was good. But then, obviously, you move on to live hits, and there’s no, ‘OK, let’s do this again.’”
Did you grow up wanting to be a sports reporter?
“I always gravitated toward journalism. I thought maybe I’d go into more strictly news reporting. At one point, I thought I might become an international correspondent because I was really interested in international affairs. Writing has always been something I’ve been passionate about. I went to Stanford and saw incredible athletics firsthand. It was there that it crystallized for me that I wanted to pursue sports journalism as a career.”
Why did you still decide to major in political science?
“I received some advice early in my collegiate career that you can major in whatever you’re interested in academically and then kind of do journalism either at the student paper or in internships to get the practical skills that way. So, that’s basically the advice I took. I thought maybe I might still go into something along the lines of that political international relations sort of journalism. I figured getting that background from an academic standpoint could be useful. But I always joked that I majored in The Stanford Daily, the college paper, because that was really where I spent the majority of my college career.”
What’s the big story for this WNBA season?
“I think the big story for me is to continue to see how this new collective bargaining agreement really changes the landscape of the league. What it means for players, what it means for ownership, the level of investment that’s needed, and what it means for the new rules that team presidents, GMs, and front offices have to work through. Maybe it’s just because I was covering the labor negotiations, so I’m still focused on that. But I want to see how the league is able to capitalize on this skyrocketing popularity.”
Has anything surprised you this early in the season?
“I think the Portland Fire actually turned out better than I thought they’d be. I think that’s probably something that a lot of other people would agree with. They had a big win over the Liberty the other day. I thought they were really gritty. They had perhaps that edge to them, a competitive fight that I think we saw from the Valkyries last year. I thought it was interesting how the offseason played out, where a lot of the top echelon players, like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Sabrina Ionescu, didn’t change teams, but we had a lot of player movement elsewhere, whether or not it was Satou Sabally or Nneka Ogwumike, or Chicago revamping its roster.”
How has Angel Reese looked with her new team, the Atlanta Dream?
“I think it’s been exciting to see Angel operate in a different system, surrounded by more experienced players and more spacing. She’s arguably one of the best rebounders we’ve seen in the league’s entire history. And this is her third season. I’m excited to see how, as she gets more acclimated to the Atlanta system and more in the trenches with Karl Smesko on the player development side, he continues to bring out new elements of her game and what she can do on the court.”
How concerning is Caitlin Clark’s poor shooting?
“I think Caitlin’s still getting back into the full force of what it means to play in a WNBA season. From what Stephanie White and Caitlin Clark have said, a lot of this is about getting used to your body when you’re coming back from an injury. It’s also about getting used to the mental hurdle you have to overcome after suffering multiple injuries like she did last year. So I think my understanding of it is that this has all been part of the process.”
As someone who has covered the Sun, what are your thoughts on the franchise relocating to Houston?
“I’ve spoken to fans around the league. I live in Connecticut, so I see the Sun’s fan base here. There are bittersweet feelings because the Mohegan Tribe was the first non-NBA owners in the WNBA. They took over the Orlando Miracle franchise when no one wanted to buy it. They were stewards of a certain era of the WNBA. They hosted All-Stars and the draft several times. They put a tremendous on-court product on the floor. They didn’t win a championship, but they were in the playoffs for a long stretch.
“I think there’s also a sentiment I’ve felt and seen around here that perhaps it’s time. They acknowledge that, given where the W is going right now, they weren’t necessarily at the level of financial commitment that would make sense for them to remain owners in the league. That’s a decision they made. I think there’s a lot of excitement about Houston and the Comets, assuming they can still keep the name, given the history and the legends who went through there.”
What’s your favorite ESPN perk?
“I’ve never used the Disney passes, which is embarrassing to admit after four years, so that should be the answer, but I don’t feel like I can even say that because I haven’t used them. It’s incredible to think of myself as part of a company like this. And, obviously, there’s the history and the tradition, with all the incredible broadcasters, writers, editors, and producers who have come and made an impact on sports.”
About Michael Grant
Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.