It has been a foregone conclusion for months, but NBC officially announced Wednesday that Mike Tirico will be its lead NBA play-by-play voice.
Tirico, who served in multiple roles on ESPN NBA coverage from 2002 through his departure for NBC in 2016, will make his debut on NBC’s NBA package Opening Night of next season. After that point, he will call “select games” until his NFL and Olympic duties conclude, after which point he is expected to work at least one game per week the rest of the season.
NBC had unofficially confirmed Tirico as its lead voice within hours of announcing its deal to acquire NBA rights last summer.
Tirico was a key member of the ESPN NBA cast, serving as a play-by-play voice for all of his tenure. His final regular season broadcast was Kobe Bryant’s career finale, in which the late Lakers guard scored 60 points. He also worked as ABC’s lead studio host from 2003-06, hosting three NBA Finals on ABC.
Notably, Tirico has never called an NBA telecast past the conference semifinals, though he did work several conference finals and NBA Finals for ESPN Radio. In his new role, he would work a conference final for NBC every-other-year.
It is unclear who Tirico will work with on NBA games. NBC has already announced the hire of Jamal Crawford as “a lead game analyst” — wording that leaves open the possibility that he will not be on the “A” team itself.
During its previous run carrying NBA games — from 1990-2002 — NBC used Marv Albert and Bob Costas as its lead play-by-play voices.
