After watching the likes of Doug Collins and Reggie Miller blow them off for a chance to hang with Ernie, Kenny and Charles, ESPN has finally turned the tables.
Magic Johnson, late of TNT’s Inside the NBA, is making the move to ESPN and ABC. Johnson will mainly work on NBA Countdown with Stuart Scott, Michael Wilbon and Jon Barry, and will make his ESPN/ABC debut on Christmas Day.
Johnson had been with TNT since 2002, and previously worked as an NBA analyst for NBC during the early 1990s.
In other NBA broadcasting news, Johnson’s former TNT cohort Kenny Smith has left his position as an analyst for Knicks games on MSG Network.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy has signed a multi-year extension to continue on the lead NBA broadcast team with Mike Breen and Mark Jackson. Van Gundy: “It was a very difficult decision to forego coaching for the next five years, but I enjoyed myself so much last year … that I decided to make this long-term commitment to broadcasting with ESPN.”
