Report: Kevin Calabro Back as Blazers' Lead Broadcaster
Kevin Calabro's time away from the game didn't last long.
The veteran play-by-play man is returning to the Trail Blazers next season as the team's lead broadcaster, according to John Canzano of The Oregonian, replacing Jordan Kent after just one season.
Calabro left Portland in July 2020 after the season was suspended due to COVID-19, with Kent assuming his duties for the NBA restart in Orlando.
A sports broadcasting icon in the Pacific Northwest, Calabro joined the Blazers in 2016-17 following two decades as the Seattle Supersonics' play-by-play announcer.
The 64-year-old told Percy Allen of The Seattle Times last July that his decision to step away from the Blazers and basketball as a whole was due to the need to spend more time with his family amid perils of the pandemic.
"With everything that’s going on with COVID and everything that’s happening, I just decided this is a good time to step away,” Calabro said. “We’ve made a lot of sacrifices during this long and crazy ride. We’ve been apart for birthdays, holidays and everything. I just turned 64 and my wife is 67. We’re in great health, but we’ve got some things happening in family that I want to be a part of."
Portland changed broadcast partners in early June, signing a multi-year deal with ROOT Sports. Lamar Hurd, Kent's play-by-play partner with NBC Sports Northwest who also spent three years calling games with Calabro, is expected to return next season.