SI

ESPN Announces Changes to NBA Coverage and One Noteworthy Extension

Also in Traina Thoughts: Patrick Mahomes is fired up for the preseason; Saints rookie has eventful day; a better ‘liar’ insult than James Harden’s and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. ESPN made its surprising change to its lead NBA booth official Monday, announcing that Doc Rivers and Doris Burke will replace Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, working alongside with Mike Breen this season. Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson had called 15 NBA Finals together.

The network also announced that Malika Andrews will take over as host of NBA Countdown, a role that Mike Greenberg has filled the past three seasons.

In a significant piece of news, ESPN also announced that play-by-play man Ryan Ruocco and analysts. JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson have been elevated to the network’s No. 2 NBA booth. Mark Jones and Burke made up the No. 2 crew last season.

I had opined in a recent SI Media Mailbag that I believe ESPN is grooming Redick for the lead booth once Doc Rivers inevitably returns to coaching in the next two or three years. I now believe that more than ever. 

I also said in early 2022 that ESPN should pair Redick and Jefferson, but I don’t want to toot my own horn too much and make this about me.

Jones and Dave Pasch will return to call games for ESPN in 2023–24 and each will work with the legendary Hubie Brown.

In a piece of broadcasting awesomeness, ESPN has reached a contract extension with the 89-year-old Brown, who will be in his 20th season at ESPN and his 50th season in the NBA.

2. I’ve been wondering how motivated the Chiefs will be this season after winning the Super Bowl last year. Based on Patrick Mahomes’s reaction to quarterback Shane Buechele pulling off a vintage Mahomes play in Sunday’s preseason game against the Saints, it seems the Chiefs are very motivated.

3. The Saints ended up winning that game against the Chiefs thanks to rookie Blake Grupe nailing a game-winning field goal.

As he detailed on Twitter, Grupe had quite the adventurous day Sunday.

4. Social media was ablaze Monday morning because James Harden called Sixers GM Daryl Morey a liar.

We’ve gotten so soft that people think this is so over-the-top. I’m old enough to remember when Yankees manager Billy Martin once said of Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner, “The two of them deserve each other. One’s a born liar, the other’s convicted.”

5. I had one thought when I saw this amusing tweet from Tom Brady over the weekend: How does Tommy not get front row seats?

6. The SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast took a break last week, but we’ll be back this Thursday with a new episode. In the meantime, use this downtime as an opportunity to catch up on some of our best summer episodes in case you missed them.

• Chris “Mad Dog” Russo

• Scott Van Pelt

• Adam Schein

• Pat McAfee

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 73rd birthday to the WWE’s Bob Backlund. While Backlund is a key figure in WWE history thanks to dropping the belt to the Iron Sheik, who shortly thereafter lost the title to Hulk Hogan (which started the birth of Hulkamania), it was Backlund’s later run in WWE as a totally out-of-control character that was his best work.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

Published
Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

Home/Extra Mustard