Turner’s coverage of NBA games is going to look a whole heck of a lot different next season. It had already been announced that Chris Webber and the network had opted to part ways ahead of the 2021 postseason, and now, a new report indicates that Webber’s broadcast partner will call it a career when the playoffs come to an end.
According to Andrew Marchand and Phil Mushnick of the New York Post, Marv Albert is a few months away from retiring. The report indicates that his decision to retire after nearly 60 years of calling a number of sports and Webber’s departure from the network are unrelated, and that the news of Albert’s tenure coming to an end will be finalized in the near future.
Sources said TNT, where Albert has been the lead play-by-player for more than two decades, recently began contacting NBA personnel to pay tribute to Albert during the playoffs.
TNT and Albert are expected to formally announce his retirement plans soon.
Albert will turn 80 in June, and has been calling games ever since he filled in on a New York Knicks broadcast for WCBS in 1963. Over his career, he’s called Knicks games for local broadcasts in New York, national games for NBC and Turner, Nets games for YES, and a number of other sports including NFL and NHL games for other networks.