After ESPN had several years of stability in its lead broadcast booth for the NBA, the company laid off analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, resulting in a vacancy that it needed to fill. The entity ended up adding analysts Doris Burke and Doc Rivers to the broadcast booth alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, forming a new commentary team that would be able to call the NBA Finals and marquee matchups at a high level.
ESPN also revealed a secondary broadcast team of Ryan Ruocco, JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson that David Roberts, current executive vice president and executive editor, sports news and entertainment, referred to as “the potential making of a succession plan.” The broadcasting alignment changed, however, when Rivers departed ESPN in January to become the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The egress of Rivers resulted in a promotion for Redick to join the lead broadcasting team, adding the responsibility alongside his appearances across ESPN programming and hosting two podcasts through his media company, ThreeFourTwo Productions. Throughout the playoffs, rumors began to spread about the Los Angeles Lakers considering Redick to fill their head coaching position. Shortly after the Boston Celtics hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy, the team officially announced the news, and Redick shared that he was effectively “excommunicated from the content space.” As a result, ESPN has now been tasked with making a third change to its lead broadcast team in just over a year.
Grant Hill, Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler and Jay Bilas are in consideration to join the lead broadcast team for the upcoming 2024-25 season, according to a report from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Although the network could opt to keep a two-person booth with Breen and Burke, it would reportedly rather create a three-person alignment long term. Yet the report notes that ESPN could decide to stay put and decline adding a third person before seeing how Breen and Burke work together as a duo.
While Jefferson, Legler and Bilas are under contract with ESPN, Hill is a member of TNT Sports and calls the Final Four with Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery. Warner Bros. Discovery and its Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary are currently involved in litigation against the NBA, alleging breach of contract as it pertains to the league’s rejection of its exercise of matching rights. Legler was reportedly in contract discussions with ESPN in late June, and it remains unknown whether that has materialized into a new deal.
Roberts, who previously oversaw NBA and WNBA broadcasts and studio shows for many years, is now focusing on the sports entertainment division under a recent content organization restructuring announced by Burke Magnus, the network’s president of content. As a part of that endeavor, Mike McQuade, a 37-year employee of the network, was promoted to executive vice president, sports production, a role in which he oversees NBA coverage. Within an internal memo obtained by Barrett Media, Magnus articulated that Roberts “has done phenomenal work” with the NBA and WNBA properties and studio programming. Moreover, he thanked him for facilitating the amazing and steady growth pertaining to everything associated with both leagues and ESPN daily studio shows.
The Walt Disney Company successfully retained rights to present NBA live game broadcasts within the latest media negotiations, including the NBA Finals, in an 11-year deal in which the media conglomerate will pay the league a reported $2.62 billion annually. In addition to the championship round, the enterprise will broadcast one of two Conference Finals for 10 of 11 years in the deal, the NBA Draft and 80 regular-season NBA games per year. The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), NBCUniversal (NBC/Peacock) and Amazon (Prime Video) will begin broadcasting NBA games under their new 11-year contracts next season, reportedly worth a collective $77 billion.
