ESPN has officially named Doc Rivers and Doris Burke its new lead analysts on NBA games, just part of an overhaul of its NBA broadcasting lineup.
ESPN announced Monday that Rivers and Burke will form the new lead analyst team for NBA games on ESPN and ABC this season and Malika Andrews will take over as the primary studio host. Those changes had been previously reported.
The network also announced Monday the hiring of former Golden State Warriors GM Bob Myers as an analyst on the ABC editions of “NBA Countdown” (replacing the laid off Jalen Rose) and the promotion of Ryan Ruocco, Richard Jefferson and J.J. Redick to a new “B” team on game telecasts. Mark Jones and Burke served as the “B” team in past seasons.
Jones will continue to call games this season, as will Dave Pasch, meaning that all four of ESPN’s main play-by-play voices are returning. Additional game analysts include the newcomer Myers and the returning Hubie Brown, who is entering his 20th season with ESPN/ABC.
As for the primary changes, Rivers and Burke replace Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, who served as the lead team since the 2007 playoffs. Van Gundy was laid off in June and Jackson was informed of his departure a month later.
Andrews is replacing Mike Greenberg as lead host of “NBA Countdown,” making her the show’s sixth different lead host in just the past eight seasons — a possibly unprecedented amount of turnover for any major sports pregame show. TNT’s NBA studio team of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal has been in place since the 2011-12 season, with the former three having worked together since 2000-01.
(News from ESPN PR)
