One of the longest-tenured ESPN voices is leaving the network.
ESPN NBA and college basketball play-by-play voice Mark Jones is leaving the network after Sunday’s Magic-Celtics telecast, he confirmed on social media Friday. The news was first broken by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. While ESPN is expected to begin another round of layoffs in the coming weeks, Jones wrote that it was his decision to leave.
He also gave no indication that he is planning to retire from broadcasting, writing that he is moving onto a “next chapter” and believes his “best work is yet to come.” In addition to his ESPN role, Jones has also been serving as the local television voice of the Sacramento Kings.
ESPN plans to air an on-air tribute to Jones during Sunday’s game, with the specifics being finalized. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald was first to note.
Jones has been with ESPN since 1990, making him the fifth-longest tenured broadcaster still working for the network — behind only Chris Berman (1979), Dick Vitale (1979), Mel Kiper (1984) and Chris Fowler (1986). Fellow long-tenured ESPNers Cliff Drysdale (1979) and Pam Shriver (1990) also departed ESPN over the past year.
While he is most associated with play-by-play, Jones was also a “SportsCenter” anchor during the show’s heyday in the early 1990s. On an appearance on the Sports Media Watch Podcast last summer, he described those days as “utopian.” Jones: “Doing shows with Bob Ley, Chris Berman, the late great legend Tom Mees was also part of the gang. John Saunders, another one of my guys who I looked up to because he had traveled the road a few years ahead of me. Getting to work with so many big names at the age of 27 was mind-boggling.”
His departure, coming on the eve of the NBA Playoffs, will further reduce the ESPN NBA depth chart. Jones was at one point the network’s secondary play-by-play voice behind Mike Breen, filling in on the first two games of the 2022 NBA Finals after Breen tested positive for COVID. He has remained part of the play-by-play rotation along with Breen, Dave Pasch and Ryan Ruocco.
ESPN has fewer games as part of the new NBA media rights deal, and will produce only three telecasts on the opening weekend of the playoffs — compared to six last year.
In addition to his pro and college basketball roles, Jones called college football games for ESPN/ABC throughout his 36-year tenure. His final college football assignment for the company was last year’s Michigan-Texas Citrus Bowl on ABC.
