One of the longest-tenured analysts in sports television, Hubie Brown is calling it a career.
ESPN president Burke Magnus said on the Jimmy Traina-hosted Sports Illustrated Media podcast that this season will be the last for Brown, who will get an on-air send-off at some point to be determined. It is unclear how many games the 91-year-old Brown will work this season, but Magnus said he would get “one last shot” on a game telecast.
Brown joined ESPN/ABC during the 2004-05 NBA season, filling a vacancy left by Doc Rivers on ABC’s lead NBA team alongside Al Michaels. He called back-to-back NBA Finals as the company’s lead NBA analyst and slipped back to a secondary role thereafter. He continued to call the NBA Finals for ESPN Radio until the 2020 COVID bubble.
Prior to joining ESPN/ABC, Brown was an analyst for Turner Sports and previously CBS, where he called the network’s final two NBA Finals alongside longtime partner Dick Stockton.
He began his broadcasting career in 1982 calling pro and college games as a guest analyst for CBS, but continued to occasionally return to coaching, whether for the Knicks in the mid-1980s or his late career stint with the Memphis Grizzlies from 2002-04, for which he won the NBA Coach of the Year award.
Brown has remained a regular presence on ESPN/ABC games into his 90s, but has not worked a game as yet this season. He is mourning the loss of his son, 54-year-old Brendan Brown, a former Knicks TV analyst who passed away earlier this month.
