One of College Basketball’s Most Exciting Broadcasters Will Make His NBA Debut Next Week

John Fanta has become one of the faces of college basketball in relatively short order. Next week, the popular young NBC play-by-play voice will call a game for an NBA audience, as his star continues to rise in the hoops world.

Fanta will call Tuesday night’s Trail Blazers vs. Timberwolves game, which will air on Peacock and NBC Sports Network. It will be his first in-person broadcast of an NBA game, after he remotely called a Nets-Cavaliers game played in Paris during the 2023–24 season for NBA TV.

Fanta, a 2017 Seton Hall graduate, has quickly moved up the ladder. Ahead of the 2025–26 college season, he made the jump from Fox Sports to NBC full time, joining a basketball broadcast roster that also features Noah Eagle, another burgeoning young star broadcaster. The move to NBC kept Fanta tied to his Big East roots, while he also calls Big Ten and Big 12 games for the networks.

Even beyond his one-off 2024 NBA remote game, Fanta is no stranger to the league, contributing to NBA draft coverage in the past and hosting the league’s pregame show, The Warmup. When he joined NBC full time over the summer, the network noted that he would “occasionally serve as a reporter on NBC Sports’ coverage of the NBA.” Now, just months into his deal with NBC, his role on the pro side is expanding beyond those initial plans.

John Fanta has emerged as one of the most versatile young broadcasters in sports over the last few years

Fanta’s infectious love for college hoops, a sport that could use more passionate cheerleaders amid an era of upheaval, has helped him stand out as a broadcaster, but he flexes his skills as analyst far beyond the games themselves.

Fanta continues to produce digital content for the Big East. He hosts podcasts for the Field of 68 college basketball media network. He is an effective social media personality as well, with his rants about his hometown Cleveland Browns going viral throughout the football season. He’s not afraid to mix it up like a sports radio host when he goes live on X, with an all-time put-down of a nihilistic St. John’s fan made the rounds online in January.

Where’s that guy that called St. John’s terrible?
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) February 7, 2026

The combination of broadcast talent and social savvy has helped him excel in the modern broadcast landscape. Clearly NBC agrees, with the network already expanding his role into the pro game before the college conference tournaments have even tipped off.

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