Kevin Harlan is reportedly closing in on a deal with Amazon’s Prime Video to join its rotation of play-by-play announcers when it commences coverage of the National Basketball Association later this year. Harlan, who currently works for TNT Sports as a play-by-play announcer on its NBA coverage, would serve as the No. 2 play-by-play announcer on the broadcast property.
In addition to his work with TNT Sports, Harlan also calls NFL games for CBS Sports and Westwood One. The news of closing in on a deal between Harlan and Prime Video was first reported by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Amazon declined comment on the matter to Barrett Media.
If a deal is completed between the two sides, Harlan would reportedly be joining a play-by-play rotation with Ian Eagle serving as the lead announcer on games. Under its forthcoming 11-year media rights deal with the NBA, Amazon will distribute 66 regular-season games and also present contests throughout the Emirates NBA Cup, including the championship game of the in-season tournament. The company will also broadcast all six SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament games and six Conference Finals over the length of the deal. Amazon is reportedly paying $1.93 billion per year for this media rights deal.
Harlan has called regular-season NBA games for TNT and TBS since the 1997-98 season, and he also served as the voice of the Minnesota Timberwolves for nine years on KFAN-AM. His first job in the sports media business was calling games for the Kansas City Kings working on radio and television at 22 years old. Outside of his basketball work, he was the former radio voice of the Kansas City Chiefs and has been broadcasting NFL games nationally with CBS Sports since 1998. Harlan had worked at FOX Sports for four years prior to that when the network landed broadcast rights to the NFC.
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