ESPN’s coverage of the start of the 2022 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors will look a little different because of COVID-19. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, the Worldwide Leader will not have one of its in-game analysts, Jeff Van Gundy, or its top NBA insider, Adrian Wojnarowski, after both contracted the virus in recent days.
This will mark the second straight game in which COVID impacted the crew ESPN had to call and analyze a playoff game. In the lead-up to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and the Miami Heat, the network’s play-by-play analyst, Mike Breen, contracted COVID and had to be replaced by Mark Jones. ESPN confirmed to Marchand that Van Gundy — who, as many noted, sounded hoarse while he called Game 7 — and Wojnarowski will not be able to be part of its broadcast, while the network is waiting to see if Breen will be cleared by Disney and the NBA. If he is not, Jones will once again fill his shoes in the booth.
Marchand reports that whomever calls the game will be part of a two-man booth with Mark Jackson. As for when we can expect to see Van Gundy and Wojnarowski back, the hope is apparently that the former will be good to go by the time the series shifts to Boston for Game 3, while the latter “could join the crew in Boston or could potentially work remotely.”
Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals tips off on Thursday evening in San Francisco at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.