During the Wednesday night ESPN broadcast of the SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, play-by-play announcer Mike Breen revealed that it was the last game telecast on the network for reporter Cassidy Hubbarth. Within his discourse, Breen articulated that she will be part of NBA coverage on Amazon’s Prime Video starting next season, corroborating what had been previously reported by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic a few months earlier. As the game was winding down, Breen and his colleagues paid tribute to Hubbarth and expressed their well wishes as she prepares to move to the next venture in her broadcasting career.
“Cassidy has been such a dedicated professional, a wonderful teammate, and most importantly, as kind and caring a friend as you could possibly have,” Breen said. “She has been a huge piece of our NBA coverage. We’re going to miss her like crazy, but she’s going to be a slam dunk for their first year of coverage next year, and it has been an absolute honor to work with her.”
Hubbarth has been a member of ESPN since 2010 when she started by appearing as a digital host across coverage of college football, college basketball and NBA content. After time spent appearing on ESPN3, she began appearing on the primary network and hosting NBA shows along with digital programs such as Buckets, The Hoop Collective and NBA Coast to Coast. Throughout her time at ESPN, Hubbarth has had the chance to work with analysts Doris Burke and Richard Jefferson, along with various members of the NBA on ESPN broadcasting team.
“She’s a pro’s pro, an unbelievable friend, and you know what? You become a star, Cass, when you go and make a little more and work a little less and do some good things in the industry, and you are a star among stars, Cass,” Burke said. “We’re going to miss you, I will miss you.”
“Since I came into this industry, since I came into this, she has guided me,” Jefferson said. “She has given me so much advice, she has supported me, and with the games when I wasn’t doing them, she was calling me and [would] say, ‘Hey, you had a great open,’ or, ‘Good job.’ Just an ultimate, ultimate teammate, and I would not be sitting here next to you two without the work that Cass has invested in me, supported me, and I appreciate her so much, and I think she’s going to do outstanding where she’s at next.”
As her colleagues were providing their messages to Hubbarth, she was shown on a split screen beside the game broadcast and could be seen wiping away tears. Later on, she expressed that there was still a postgame interview forthcoming and that she needed to keep her makeup intact. From there, she articulated her thanks and gratitude towards the team at ESPN amid her final game telecast with the network.
“ESPN has allowed me to grow and has nurtured my career in so many beautiful ways, and I cannot express how grateful I am all the way back to 2010 and NBA Tonight to being with the A-team here tonight,” Hubbarth said. “So enough about me, let’s get back to the game. Thank you so much to everyone for all of your support. It has been one of the truest and most special gifts of my life.”
Amazon’s Prime Video will be broadcasting NBA games starting next season under an 11-year media rights deal with the league reportedly worth $1.93 billion per annum. As part of the deal, Amazon will distribute 66 NBA regular-season games on Prime Video, including an opening week doubleheader and at least one game broadcast on Black Friday. The company will also present Emirates NBA Cup games in the quarterfinals and semifinals of the knockout round, along with the championship matchup therein. Furthermore, the streaming service will distribute all six SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament games and stream one of two Conference Finals series in six of 11 years in the deal.
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