After picking up one member of the 2003 NBA Draft class for its Olympic coverage last year, NBC is turning to another for its NBA studio show.
NBC Sports is expected to make Carmelo Anthony the first hire for its NBA studio coverage, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic reported Thursday. Anthony has never before worked in sports television, but is one of several current and former NBA players with his own podcast.
Anthony would join an NBC NBA roster that already includes Mike Tirico and Jamal Crawford, plus previously-reported additions such as Noah Eagle and Reggie Miller who have yet to be announced. He would also be the second member of the 2003 NBA Draft class to join NBC Sports, as Dwyane Wade served as its lead men’s basketball game analyst during last year’s Olympics.
Per Marchand, NBC is also interested in TNT’s Grant Hill and could use Terry Gannon — who was ESPN/ABC’s lead WNBA voice for a time in the 2000s — on play-by-play.
NBC and Amazon, the two incoming NBA rights partners, are assembling studio teams that are thus far younger than what has been the norm. Amazon has already announced the hirings of Blake Griffin and Dirk Nowitzki, plus host Taylor Rooks, for its studio. Some of that youth movement is by necessity, as neither network was able to poach the disgruntled Charles Barkley from TNT.
Currently, the national studio shows feature only two analysts who have played an NBA game in the past 13 years, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins and TNT’s Tuesday-only analyst Vince Carter. (Both networks do feature WNBA players who have taken the court more recently, ESPN’s Chiney Ogwumike and TNT’s Candace Parker.)
