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As the National Basketball Association schedule continues, the league is in its second year holding an In-Season Tournament amid the regular-season action. The Walt Disney Company, currently in the final season of its existing NBA media rights deal, will be the television home of key games as a part of knockout round coverage in the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup. ESPN recently announced the broadcast teams that will commentate the seminal action from Las Vegas, Nev., including the alignment for the pivotal Championship Game.
Taking place on Wednesday, Dec. 11, ESPN will broadcast a quarterfinal game of the tournament to begin at either 7 or 7:30 p.m. EST. The lead NBA on ESPN duo of Mike Breen and Doris Burke will call the game without a second analyst on the crew, and they will be joined by sideline reporter Cassidy Hubbarth. Breen and Burke had previously worked alongside JJ Redick during the NBA Playoffs last season; however, he departed during the offseason upon landing the job as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Breen and Burke will return for a semifinal matchup emanating from Las Vegas on Saturday, Dec. 14 airing on ABC and ESPN+. While the network has ostensibly not decided on a second analyst to join the NBA Finals broadcast crew, former small forward Richard Jefferson is slated to call this matchup with the team. Jefferson was previously part of a broadcast team featuring the aforementioned Redick and play-by-play announcer Ryan Ruocco, a configuration that was affected upon the egress of Rivers.
Jefferson will return to the airwaves on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 8:30 p.m. EST to call the Championship Game with Breen and Burke. Lisa Salters will join the broadcast team as the sideline reporter for both the semifinal and Championship matchups airing on ABC and ESPN+.
The Los Angeles Lakers, led by superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, secured the first NBA Cup win in league history last year with a defeat of the Indiana Pacers in the matchup that averaged 4.58 million viewers on ABC and ESPN2. At the time, the contest was the most-watched non-Christmas NBA game during the regular season on any network in about six years, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.
ESPN will continue its coverage of group play during the Emirates NBA Cup with a doubleheader taking place on Friday, Nov. 29. James Harden and the LA Clippers will face Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN. The second game of the night, which starts at 10 p.m. EST, features Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder facing LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.