“This is a relationship business,” said Amazon’s Taylor Rooks at Front Office Sports’ Tuned In summit. The prominent journalist and host of NBA on Prime is known and criticized for having personal friendships with NBA players.
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When Tyrese Haliburton got married in Indianapolis in August 2026, Rooks was there. When Donovan Mitchell got married the next day in Connecticut, Rooks was there too. These are some players she’s covered personally before.
“I actually think it sometimes might make it a little bit easier, largely because a lot of those tough conversations you’re just having already,” she said during her interview at Tuned In.
For example, when Rooks met Donovan Mitchell during his wedding, she asked him crucial questions like “Why can you not make it to the conference finals, like what is it? What is it about your play, are you not elevating your teammates?”
She explained that being close to these players helps her become a part of these tough conversations in a way that is honest and safe.
“So many of those conversations are already happening that when I’m sitting down really, it’s just about honesty and I think those questions are fair.”
This isn’t the first time Taylor Rooks has had to open up about her friendships with athletes. In 2025, she published a Substack post which argued that her critics feel like she should change her relationships with athletes simply because she is a woman.
Meanwhile, male reporters have often built their entire careers on the back of relationships. Therefore, criticism has become a part of her life as a reporter in the field.
One of her closest friends is none other than Kevin Durant. She first interviewed him during her sophomore year in college. Durant saw her running around after an All-Star Game and asked her to interview him. This was Rooks’ first big interview.
Today, she is an equity partner in his company, Boardroom. In fact, the Houston Rockets star even attended her wedding back in 2025. Clearly, her friendships with Kevin Durant and other players have taken her places.
They have allowed her to build a more personal relationship with the athletes she talks to and writes about. However, a part of the job is asking the hard questions and writing the harsh truths. Does this harm the trust between said friends?
“I think that one of the reasons that you end up sitting with me is because there is the trust that exists,” she told Front Office Sports. “And that trust really is this daily deposit, both with the audience and with the person that you’re interviewing.”
Taylor Rooks holds that her interviews and relationships essentially help her know the athlete at a deeper level. After all, who would know a person better than a friend? As for the criticism from fans online, she said that she’s let go of it a long time ago.
“It doesn’t register with me,” she explained. The criticism doesn’t get to her anymore because she knows what is true of her life, credibility, and profession.