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Back in the day, ESPN would begin The NBA Finals in triple-threat position. Play-by-player Mike Breen was ready to exclaim, “Bang!” on the biggest baskets of the game. Jeff Van Gundy rode shotgun as perhaps the best analyst in sports with his coach’s perspective. Mark Jackson would assist from the player’s point of view with some catchphrases.
It was comfortable, informative and fun.
Then, in a Booger Mobile-level bad decision, ESPN said, “Nah, we’re good” and dumped Van Gundy and Jackson in the summer budget cuts of 2023. It didn’t make sense then and doesn’t make sense now.
It is relevant again, as for the second post-Van Gundy and Jackson Finals, all eyes and ears will be on another ESPN newbie team. Breen, now joined by Doris Burke and Richard Jefferson, are calling their first Finals together as a trio.
It may also be their only Finals together.
Since ESPN fired Van Gundy and Jackson, it promoted the trailblazing Burke to the No. 1 team and hired Doc Rivers. Rivers, after promising he wouldn’t return to coaching, quickly did exactly that by taking the Milwaukee Bucks’ job last season, inspiring Breen, with his trademark slight chuckle, to thank Rivers “for his many weeks of service.”
ESPN next turned to JJ Redick to join Breen and Burke. The trio were not exactly scintillating, but only had months, not years, to jell. Redick then fled to coach the Lakers.
Now, for these Finals, pitting the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Indiana Pacers, it is Breen, Burke and Jefferson. Next year, it very well could be a different team.
While ESPN intends on re-signing Jefferson, it has not yet locked him up with his contract expiring, according to sources briefed on the talks. Amazon Prime Video has expressed some interest in Jefferson, according to the same sources. Meanwhile, Burke’s spot is not guaranteed for next season, according to sources familiar with ESPN’s preliminary plans. While Breen, the Basketball Hall of Famer under a long-term deal, is not going anywhere, ESPN will evaluate its entire roster.
ESPN executives will debate what is next, according to sources, with one discussion likely centering around if they feel Burke is better on a two-person team as opposed to the three-person team.
ESPN’s other NBA game analysts this season were Tim Legler, Jay Bilas and Cory Alexander.
This new team puts Breen in the middle of trying to find the magic that he had with Van Gundy and Jackson. Breen is one of the best NBA play-by-players ever and has called the most Finals on TV, but there has been a hole in his game for two seasons.
He has not made his analysts better, seemingly trying to carry more of the load, while failing to lift up his partners. While he still sounds good, he can come across like a star player wanting to run his usual half-court offense with players built to run. Breen is dominating the ball more compared to the Van Gundy and Jackson prime. It’s a team game, and Breen, Burke and Jefferson lack flow.
ESPN had years of stability in its NBA Finals broadcast with analysts Mark Jackson (left) and Jeff Van Gundy, with play-by-play announcer Mike Breen. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
ESPN’s decision-making has been odd for two years, starting with the Van Gundy and Jackson firings. The NBA never ordered a Code Red on Van Gundy, though it was well-known that the league didn’t like his criticism of officials. That certainly didn’t help Van Gundy, especially on the precipice of the NBA’s long-term TV rights negotiations, at the end of which ESPN secured The Finals for its entire new 11-year deal.
ESPN sources at the time said that part of their calculus in letting Van Gundy go was his desire to return to coaching. While Van Gundy did show interest in heading back to the sidelines again, he was back on TV next to Breen and Jackson, year after year.
Following the firing of Van Gundy and Jackson, Rivers and Redick took off for coaching without even spending a full season as the network’s No. 1 analyst. (After being fired by ESPN, Van Gundy did become a top assistant with the Los Angeles Clippers.)
While Jefferson — who won one ring in a very good 17-year career — has shown potential and is committed to being a game analyst, ESPN passed him over for Redick last year. ESPN did not name Redick’s replacement in the offseason. This year, ESPN waited and waited before finally naming Jefferson to be Breen and Burke’s partner.
ESPN got this backwards.
Last season, after Rivers departed around New Year’s, ESPN should have done a bake-off between Redick and Jefferson to see who sounded better with Breen and Burke. Jefferson’s humor actually adds another ingredient, compared to the drier Redick. Plus, Jefferson does not seem to have any desire to coach. Either way, there was no need to rush.
This season, post-Redick, ESPN should have committed to Jefferson earlier, since the new trio could have done more games together to get as many reps as possible before The Finals.
Burke is in the Basketball Hall of Fame, rightfully so. She was handed nothing, coming from obscurity, first working New York Liberty games on MSG Network before her rise through the ESPN ranks. She was sharp and informative. But in the three-person booth the last two years, she hasn’t seemed to mesh as well with Breen. He doesn’t outright ignore what she says, but they rarely build on each other’s comments.
ESPN has failed to create a deep game analyst bench, even resorting to college basketball expert Bilas on playoff games this season. Some top decision-makers like Legler a lot, and he could become a Finals option, according to sources briefed on the network decision-makers’ thinking.
Before ESPN bought Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in for “Monday Night Football,” Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson was probably the best major game booth ESPN had. The network broke it up — and is still trying to put something even close to it together.
ESPN is broadcasting these NBA Finals with Breen, Burke and Jefferson.
The trio is in its first season together, and it can take time. They are still figuring out when is the best time for each to shoot or pass or dribble. But the Finals are not the best time for learning.
(Top illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
