Lisa Salters will be making her return to the ESPN NBA Finals broadcast on ABC for Game 5 of the series on Monday night. Salters, who will resume her reporting role after a three-game absence, had been away from the broadcasts as the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder sought to gain ground and win their first league championship in franchise history.
“Lisa is attending to a personal matter,” ESPN said in a statement provided to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports last Sunday. “We send her our best.”
Salters has been working for ESPN since 2001 after a five-year stint at ABC News based in Los Angeles, Calif. Over the years, she has traveled the world covering global events such as the Olympic Games and documenting stories airing on shows such as Outside the Lines and SportsCenter. Salters has been part of NBA coverage on ESPN/ABC since 2005, and she balances the role with her responsibilities on Monday Night Football as the sideline reporter for the broadcast.
Jorge Sedano, who was reporting for the ESPN Radio broadcast of the series and also hosts afternoon drive on ESPN LA 710, had been filling in for Salters during her absence. Sedano works as a reporter across NBA on ESPN coverage during the regular season and also contributes to studio programs such as NBA Today and SportsCenter. With Salters’ return to the television broadcast, Sedano will return to radio where he will be working alongside play-by-play announcer Marc Kestecher and analyst P.J. Carlesimo.
The NBA Finals is currently tied as one team looks to gain a key advantage on Monday with tipoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST from Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. Breen and Salters will be joined by analysts Doris Burke and Richard Jefferson on the ESPN television broadcast of the game, which is averaging approximately 8.95 million viewers through the first three games. Despite the 23% year-over-year decline, the contests are still finishing as the most-watched programs on television since the first week of May.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
