After one season back on the bench as the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, Stan Van Gundy is returning to the broadcast booth. His foray back into coaching in the NBA didn’t go as planned, as he seemed unable to connect with the young Pelicans as the New Orleans brass had hoped and was fired after his lone season in the Big Easy.
However, Van Gundy had a pretty comfortable backup plan should coaching not pan out, as he had become one of the best game analysts in the booth for the NBA on TNT, a gig he will reprise for this upcoming season, per Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. Van Gundy brought a sharp eye for the game and was less prone to hot take rants and lengthy tangents in his first stint with TNT, making him a favorite of many. Returning to TNT for game work (and NBA TV as a studio analyst) makes tons of sense for both parties, as Turner was already in need of a replacement for the departing Chris Webber.
Van Gundy worked primarily with Ian Eagle in his initial TNT run and one would expect those two to be paired again fairly often, but Turner may opt to run a more regular rotation of commentators and analysts next year as they enter their first season post-Marv Albert — Marchand notes they may not officially name a “top booth” for some time. In any case, Van Gundy’s return to game broadcasts is a win for NBA fans, as his easy insight into the game will be a welcome sight.