Months ahead of his full-time return to the NBA in October, Mike Tirico will call a pair of games this week on NBC’s regional sports networks.
Tirico will call Monday’s Trail Blazers-76ers game on NBC Sports Philadelphia and Wednesday’s Trail Blazers-Celtics game on NBC Sports Boston, NBC Sports announced Monday morning. He will fill in for the regular 76ers and Celtics respective play-by-play voices, Kate Scott and Drew Carter, and work alongside their usual partners, Alaa Abdelnaby and Brian Scalabrine.
The games will mark Tirico’s return to NBA play-by-play after nearly ten years. His most recent broadcast was a Cavaliers-Hawks second round playoff game on ABC in 2016, and his most recent regular season game was Kobe Bryant’s career finale against the Jazz earlier that year, in which the late Lakers guard scored 60 points.
Tirico will be the lead voice of the new “NBA on NBC” when it debuts later this year, calling Opening Night and then a regular schedule of games after his NFL duties conclude. The NBA is part of what figures to be a career year for Tirico in 2026, when he will call the Super Bowl for the first time, host another Olympics, and then work an NBA conference final.
He previously served as one of ESPN/ABC’s main NBA play-by-play voices from 2002-16, and ABC’s lead NBA studio host from 2003-06.
