ESPN analyst Richard Jefferson will join NBA broadcasters Mike Breen and Doris Burke to call the 2025 NBA Finals for ESPN. ESPN reporter Lisa Salters will report for the broadcast. The team will also call the 2025 NBA Western Conference Finals and marquee games throughout the remainder of the regular season and during the early rounds of the NBA Playoffs (ESPN).
FINDING A STABLE CAST: THE ATHLETIC’s Andrew Marchand notes ESPN’s NBA booth has “been in flux” since the network let go of its longtime analysts, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, during layoffs in the summer of 2023. The network began the following season with former NBA coach Doc Rivers joining Breen and Burke, but Rivers “quickly ditched that role” to become the Bucks' head coach. The network then “turned to JJ Redick over Jefferson” to replace Rivers. Redick called the NBA Finals last June and then took the Lakers’ coaching job. Marchand reports ESPN “had some interest in Grant Hill joining Breen and Burke, but a deal never came to fruition” (THE ATHLETIC, 2/24).
