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Credit: ESPN
After years of instability, ESPN’s lead NBA booth should feature Mike Breen, Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson for the foreseeable future.
For 15 years, NBA fans grew accustomed to hearing Breen call the biggest games alongside Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. But since letting Van Gundy and Jackson go in a cost-cutting move during the company’s 2023 round of layoffs, ESPN has been chasing that same consistency. ESPN’s NBA booth that was once defined by stability, has turned into a revolving door of analysts that saw JJ Redick, Doc Rivers and Doris Burke all come and go.
This season was the fourth consecutive year where ESPN had a different pairing of analysts alongside Breen for the NBA Finals. But with Breen, Legler and Jefferson, ESPN landed on a booth it should invest in to keep for years to come.
Tim Legler joined this week’s episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast where he discussed the Finals, the New York Knicks, Victor Wembanyama, NBA officials, and more. And during the conversation, he was also asked whether this booth with Jefferson and Breen feels like one that can regain the stability ESPN’s top NBA booth used to have.
“It absolutely does to all of us,” Legler answered. “We had a chance when it was all over – just like players celebrate the end of the season when you win, as a broadcast team, you feel the same way – You get a chance to sit there in the moment and kind of really appreciate each other and what we became, and what we just did. We all shared that same feeling, we are really proud of what this is and hopefully we are together for a long time. I think that would be what we would all love.”
This was also the first season where Legler worked in a three-person booth, which was its own adjustment, needing to build chemistry with two new voices instead of just one.
“It was amazing how rarely we did talk over each other throughout the year, particularly the second half of the year,” Legler said of working with Jefferson, noting he listens back to every game the next day. “And not just Richard and I, but even Mike. Play-by-play guys also, through time you have to learn the cadence in their voice. It’s different when they say something and how they finish, it takes time to realize they have something else they’re about to say. You’ve got to sit the starting blocks, if you have something you want to get in you’ve got to be patient and wait for that pause, and you can learn that through listening to someone’s voice over time.”
But even when you find that pause, with two analysts, now you need to decide whether it’s Legler or Jefferson who should jump in.
“A lot of that was Richard and I tapping each other, or a hand would go up and I could see his index finger or mine saying, ‘Hey man, I got something right here.’ And if Richard goes first, you have to determine, is there still time to get in on this point? Or are we passed that now? So you’re constantly weighing that, it’s something really impactful.”
The trio showed promise during the regular season, although Legler admitted they didn’t feel like they started to hit their stride until the playoffs. And even in the playoffs, they endured several short series and blowout games that can make it challenging for a first-year booth to continue building chemistry. But by the time the NBA Finals arrived, Breen, Legler and Jefferson appeared to be firing on all cylinders.
In comparison to regional announcers and booths, ESPN’s NBA trio is given a relatively small slate of games to develop during the regular season. There are seasons where ESPN’s lead booth might call more playoff games together than regular season games, especially now that the league has more media partners. But when the Finals arrive, fans aren’t going to give the announcers any sort of grace period.
In their first year together, Breen, Legler and Jefferson were still expected to be at their best when it mattered most on the biggest stage and platform during the NBA Finals. And while they weren’t perfect, they showed more than enough potential to warrant running it back next season and beyond.
Listen to the full episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast featuring Tim Legler by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts. For more content, subscribe to AA’s YouTube page.
The post Mike Breen, Tim Legler and Richard Jefferson should stabilize ESPN’s NBA booth appeared first on Awful Announcing.
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