One of ESPN’s biggest stars is leaving, and the timing couldn’t be worse. Elle Duncan, who is the face of the network’s women’s sports coverage and co-host of SportsCenter at 6 p.m., is leaving to run Netflix’s new sports studio programming. Her departure leaves ESPN scrambling to fill a significant gap at a time when women’s basketball and the WNBA are drawing record audiences.

It looks like the network is ready to move quickly to fill the gap left by Duncan. Sources who talked to Front Office Sports say that Malika Andrews is now the top choice to become ESPN’s main WNBA studio host . Andrews has already done some WNBA coverage, including hosting the league’s opening night broadcasts last season, so this decision would be a natural next step for her. ESPN trusts her to run major studi

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