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Jimmy Traina

Don’t Expect ESPN to Add a Lead NBA Analyst to Its No. 1 Booth Before Season Starts

ESPN NBA Andrew Marchand Doris Burke Mike Breen Baker Mayfield Bob Costas David Shoemaker Jimmy Traina Kirk Herbstreit
Doris Burke and Mike Breen will work without a third partner to start the NBA season. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

1. The Athletic’s sports media reporter, Andrew Marchand, joined a brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina to discuss all the latest news in the business.

With the NBA season less than three weeks away, I asked Marchand what ESPN is going to do with its lead NBA booth. After firing Jeff Van Gundy, which is still a mind-boggling decision, and Mark Jackson in June 2023, ESPN brought in Doc Rivers and Doris Burke to work alongside Mike Breen.

Rivers left the booth during the season to get back into coaching, so ESPN elevated JJ Redick. During the offseason, Redick became the Lakers head coach.

So, where do we stand today with ESPN’s lead NBA broadcast booth? According to Marchand, it’s going to be status quo for a while.

“I think they’re probably going to go into the season with Breen and Doris as the lead team,” Marchand said on the podcast, “and then with the idea of probably adding a third person.”

Marchand added that TNT Sports’ Grant Hill, who has done both NBA and college basketball, is high on the network’s list of external candidates. “He’s someone they like a lot,” Marchand said. “It’s a little bit complicated because he’s under contract, but he’s one candidate.

“Internally, Richard Jefferson is an obvious one who could move in as the third person on that first team,” Marchand added. “They considered Tim Legler. There was a push from some people for Jay Bilas for a while. Maybe he does some NBA games this year, but I don’t think he’s going to be on the No. 1 team. And so those are the candidates at the moment. Maybe somebody pops up out of nowhere.”

Other topics from our conversation include ESPN looking at Shams Charania, Jeff Passan and Chris Haynes as possible replacements for Adrian Wojnarowski as its top NBA insider; how Tom Brady has done as an analyst after four games and what he needs to do better; how Cris Collinsworth’s signing affects Greg Olsen; Tony Romo’s improvement; an old-fashion Twitter fight between reporters and much more.

Following Marchand, David Shoemaker from The Ringer joins the podcast to discuss Netflix’s Mr. McMahon, a six-part docuseries on which he was a producer and talking head. Shoemaker shares details on the making of the doc, including how a bombshell lawsuit against Vince McMahon during production affected the documentary, what it was like for the makers to interview McMahon, the McMahon family dynamic and much more.

Following Shoemaker, Sal Licata from WFAN radio and SNY TV in New York joins me for our weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s conversation covers the MLB playoffs, NFL scheduling issues, Dana Carvey, Saturday Night Live, Sal’s knowledge of presidents and more.

You can listen to the SI Media With Jimmy Traina below or on Apple and Spotify.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated‘s YouTube channel.

2. Kirk Herbstreit’s weekly schedule is always wild thanks to the fact that he calls Thursday Night Football for Amazon, does College GameDay on Saturday morning and then calls a game Saturday afternoon or evening.

Herbstreit's hectic schedule made for a cool animation video.

3. Some notable items from Wednesday’s MLB playoff games:

The local radio call of Garrett Mitchell’s go-ahead home run for Milwaukee was excellent.

The Royals' social media team scored a TKO against the Orioles after Kansas City eliminated Baltimore.

This payroll stat made the rounds on social media after the Tigers eliminated the Astros.

This was the worst time possible for ESPN's Michael Kay to have a flub.

ESPN got good viewership news on Day 1 of the playoffs. Its coverage of the four wild-card games on Tuesday drew more than 2.5 million viewers, up 15% from last year.

4. I’m a sucker for a good “undercover” prank, so this teaser from Prime Video for a new show in which Baker Mayfield goes undercover and immerses himself with Bucs fans will get a watch from me.

5. My Twitter mentions have been destroyed since tweeting out the ALDS broadcaster assignments for TBS this morning.

These were a few of the responses that made LOL.

6. This was a funny story from undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes on Wednesday’s Pat McAfee Show, about an encounter with Cowboys great Emmitt Smith.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of that Baker Mayfield “undercover” video, here’s another great “undercover” bit featuring Adele from the BBC.

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter and Instagram.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Don’t Expect ESPN to Add a Lead NBA Analyst to Its No. 1 Booth Before Season Starts.

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