Jill Martin, NBA, WNBA raise awareness for cancer testing

Whether it was as a sports anchor and reporter or as a fashion designer, Jill Martin has had a successful career in both industries.
Now, the 12-time Emmy-Award-winning TV personality and entrepreneur is combining her love of sports and fashion for a cause that’s close to home: raising awareness around early gene testing for breast cancer following her battle with the disease.
Martin was diagnosed with breast cancer in June of 2023. Just over a year later, Martin is launching a first-of-its-kind collection of loungewear and outerwear products featuring the logos of the NBA and WNBA turned pink. The concept for her cozy clothing was sparked while working from home and in between cancer treatments.
The collection will be unveiled on the Today Show at 8, 9 and 10 a.m. on Oct. 1.
By integrating these logos into her best-selling new brand “By Jill Martin,” Martin is transforming her hero fashion pieces into a canvas for advocacy, encouraging conversations about early testing and preventive measures like those that saved her own life.
NBA.com caught up with the 48-year-old New York Times best-selling author and got her thoughts on her latest project.
Editor’s Note: The following conversation has been condensed and edited.
NBA.com: What was your first love – sports or fashion?
Martin: I grew up with my dad and my brother and we were big Knicks fans and one of my first jobs was as host of Heat TV. I was also a sports anchor for CBS 4 Miami and a sideline reporter and host of Celebrity Row for the Knicks.
Growing up, did you play any sports?
I played basketball. I thought I was a captain, but my mother told me I wasn’t. I was a power forward in high school.
That’s funny. Were you any good?
During the quarter breaks of Heat games, I would challenge celebrities to a shooting game. I think I was undefeated except for against former Miami Dolphins star Zach Thomas. I think he was the only one who beat me.
You are helping to raise money for a cause and something that is important to you.
When you find out you have cancer, it is so earth shattering and what you’re told you have to go through is just life changing and it’s changed me in so many ways. Both positive and negative, you know, I still consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world, even after everything that I’ve been through.
If they hadn’t caught it, doctors said it likely would have been incurable within a year. They said it would have spread because it was already in the lymph nodes. So, somebody was looking out for me.
My goal with this, with this mission is for people who are in high-risk categories to go get tested because I imagine there are so many people who don’t even realize they have the gene and are at high risk for cancer. I can’t bear for one more person and one more family to have to go through what I went through unnecessarily.
Sometimes you can’t prevent it, but in my case had I known that I had the gene on my father’s side, I would have been able to have preventive surgery and wouldn’t have had to go through cancer and chemotherapy. I still would have had to have surgery, but I wouldn’t have had to have my life transformed in so many ways.
I feel like there is a higher power who has charged me with educating and advocating for women and men to get tested.

You’re cancer free now, right?
All my planned surgeries are finished, and I say it like that because cancer is more powerful than any of us, so I’m very careful about how I word it. You’re never done.
Yeah, I get it. My father, Oscar, passed away from cancer.
I am so sorry to hear about your father. It is beyond traumatizing and it turns lives upside down. It was a really hard year, but look what came out of it. Educating and advocating for all the warriors out there. I’ve been part of the NBA and WNBA for over 20 years.
I have these hero products that I’ve been selling for years, that everybody loves, and the NBA believed in me and allowed me to give my products a striking pink makeover to raise awareness.
Your products all look great and equally as important, they look like they fit any occasion. The NBA and WNBA players love showing off their wardrobes before and after games. This is going to be a big hit. 
This is the culmination of a year and a half of the worst time in my family’s life. And it’s my rainbow. Doing a striking pink makeover allows me to share my message, which is it’s very hard to not let cancer take over your life. And I want to be the motivation for people going through it.
Also, the NBA’s about to get a whole lot cozier. I want to elevate the female sector of apparel and make it comfy, cozy without compromising style. I know what it’s like to want to feel your best and also be a sports fan.
You’re a lifestyle and fashion contributor on the Today Show so you know the trends.
The WNBA is thriving and the attention on women’s sports is incredible. I’m happy to be a small part of that.
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The new collection features Martin’s best-selling silhouettes and fabrications. The line includes fan favorites like her sherpa loungers and hoodies as well as her 10 x 10 foot family blankets and famous oversized animal buddies.
The products will be available for purchase on Jill Martin’s official website (jillmartin.com) as well as through Fanatics, select Lids Stores, select NBA team stores and Saks Fifth Avenue. Prices range from $89 to $200.The proceeds will go to the Basser Center for BRCA.
All NBA and WNBA proceeds will go to the Basser Center for BRCA. The Basser Center is dedicated to the treatment, prevention, awareness and research of BRCA-related cancers.