DORIS Burke will no longer feature on NBA Finals coverage.
ESPN has demoted the Hall of Fame NBA analyst in favor of Tim Legler.
Doris Burke has been demoted by ESPN[/caption]
ESPN has removed Burke from its NBA Finals broadcast team[/caption]
Legler will join a team consisting of Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, and sideline reporter Lisa Salters.
Burke had just signed a new extension with ESPN, but will now feature on the network’s No. 2 NBA team.
She will serve alongside play-by-play broadcaster Dave Pasch.
Burke spent the last two seasons as the NBA Finals color commentator.
She was the first woman to call he NBA finals on TV.
ESPN’s No. 1 team is now mostly locked up on long-term extensions.
Jefferson signed a new contract with the network after the Finals.
Breen was already signed on to a long-term deal.
Salters was extended before both of her broadcast partners.
Fans love Burke, but many widely agreed that it was the right move to take her out of the NBA Finals.
“Nothing against her– Absolutely the right call!” one fan said.
“The first good move in a long time. Tim knows ball,” another fan said.
“Doris is awesome! Legler is awesome too and imo better. So it makes sense,” a third fan said.
“This will be much better,” a fourth fan said.
New rights deal
The NBA signed an 11-year deal with three networks for the league’s rights from the 2025-26 season.
And there will be no games on TNT for the first time since the network launched in 1988.
The Walt Disney Company will continue to show the league with 80 regular-season games across ESPN and ABC.
They will also show around 18 playoff games from the first and second round, a Conference Finals series for 10 of the 11 years, and remain the home of the NBA Finals.
NBC will return as an NBA broadcaster for the first time since 2002.
The network will show up to 100 games per season across it’s channels and Peacock streaming service.
It will also be the home of NBA All-Star and show approximately 28 playoff games from the first and second round.
NBC will show one Conference Finals Series for six of the 11 years, rotating with new broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Amazon will show 66 NBA regular-season games including one on Black Friday.
The streaming service is also the home of the latter stages of the NBA Cup and the entire Play-In Tournament.
Prime will also broadcast around one third of the playoff games in the first and second round.
“YES!!!! Legler is infinitely better,” a fifth fan said.
Burke joined ESPN in 1991, and her tenure at ESPN will pass 35 years thanks to the extension.
She has worked 17 NBA Finals, mostly as a sideline reporter.
Six of her Finals appearances came as an analyst for ABC and ESPN Radio.
