Report: A ‘Good Chance’ Mike Breen, Doc Rivers, And Doris Burke Make Up ESPN’s Lead NBA Broadcast Team

When ESPN went through its latest round of layoffs, there were a number of big names that were let go by the sports media giant. On the NBA side, two of the longtime faces of the network’s coverage were laid off, with Jeff Van Gundy and Jalen Rose having their lengthy tenures with ESPN ended unceremoniously.

That means there will be a shakeup to both the NBA Countdown desk as well as the lead broadcast booth for next season’s coverage, and there were immediately a number of names floated as possible replacements for both. On Monday, a report from Chad Finn of the Boston Globe noted that former Magic, Celtics, Clippers, and Sixers coach (and former broadcaster at ABC) Doc Rivers and Doris Burke were a likely duo to join Mike Breen on the call as ESPN’s top broadcast booth next season.

Rivers was fired by the Sixers this offseason and was floated as a potential Van Gundy replacement by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post when word first broke of Van Gundy being let go, with Marchand noting the money left on Rivers’ Sixers deal could make him easier for ESPN to bring in at a lower salary. Burke, meanwhile, has been a favorite in the booth and is one of the best analysts in the business, having previously worked sidelines for the Finals and more recently doing the ESPN Radio broadcast for the conference finals and Finals.

What this report also indicates is Mark Jackson will no longer be part of ESPN’s lead booth, which raises questions about whether he will be shuffled back into a secondary team — one would think alongside Mark Jones, who has occasionally called games with Jackson and is typically partnered with Burke. In any case, this provides at least one good possibility of what ESPN’s main broadcast team will look like next season, while we still wait to find out how ESPN will shuffle their seemingly ever-changing studio show lineup.