ESPN’s ongoing talent shake-up is expected to produce a dramatically revamped team for its NBA Finals broadcasts.
via: The Athletic
The New York Post was first to report the news. Here’s what you need to know:
The network is close to promoting Burke and hiring Rivers to join her and play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, but the deal is not done, according to the source.
Jackson had been a part of the lead NBA crew alongside Breen and Jeff Van Gundy since rejoining the network in 2014.
Van Gundy was let go by ESPN last month amid a round of cost-saving layoffs at the network.
Burke has covered basketball for ESPN since 1991 and served as a national NBA game analyst since 2017. The Hall of Famer became the first woman to serve as a game analyst for the NBA Finals in 2020 when she provided commentary on ESPN Radio, and would become the first female analyst to call NBA Finals games on network TV if promoted.
Rivers spent most of the past 24 seasons as a head coach, with a brief stint as an ESPN/ABC analyst during the 2003-04 season after leaving the Orlando Magic. He was fired in May after three seasons with Philadelphia. The 61-year-old was named NBA Coach of the Year with the Magic in 2000 and won an NBA championship with the Celtics in 2008.
Jackson previously worked with Van Gundy and Breen from 2006 to 2011 before a three-year stint as head coach of the Golden State Warriors. After returning to ESPN in 2014, he signed a multiyear extension with the network in May 2017.
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