ESPN Replaces Doris Burke with Tim Legler for NBA Finals Coverage
ESPN replaces Doris Burke with Tim Legler on NBA Finals team amid fan criticism and chemistry issues; Burke signs multi-year extension for other broadcasts.
- In 2024, ESPN removed Doris Burke from its primary NBA Finals announcing crew, naming veteran analyst Tim Legler to take her place in the lead broadcast team.
- Since becoming part of ESPN in 1990, Burke has been involved with NBA Finals coverage in various roles starting in 2009, and in 2024, she made history by becoming the first woman to serve as a TV game analyst during a championship final in a major U.S. professional sports league.
- Tim Legler, an ESPN analyst since 2000, will join Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson on the lead NBA Finals team, while Burke will continue calling games with Dave Pasch next season.
- Burke, inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2018 with the Curt Gowdy Media Award, has mentored many female analysts and gained respect for her contributions to basketball media.
- ESPN's decision signals a restructuring of its NBA broadcast teams aiming for a permanent lineup, while Burke’s multi-year contract extension confirms her ongoing role with the network.
73 Articles
73 Articles
ESPN Set Doris Burke Up To Fail By Wanting To Put First Woman on NBA Finals
In 2023, ESPN named Doris Burke the co–color analyst for the NBA Finals. Both the network and the NBA promoted the move as historic—Burke would be the first woman to call an NBA Finals series. This week, ESPN demoted her in favor of Tim Legler.A color analyst’s role is to quickly make the broadcast smarter in the brief seconds between plays, before handing it back to the game caller. Burke often struggled with that task. She took too long to mak…
“Shouldn’t have ever been promoted”: NBA fans embrace ESPN’s massive move as Tim Legler reportedly replaces Doris Burke
ESPN has made a big change to their broadcast plans for the upcoming season as they are replacing Dorris Burke with Tim Legler. The sports network announced the change on Thursday in a press release.
Tim Legler replaces Doris Burke on ESPN's lead NBA team; Burke inks contract extension
Tim Legler will replace Doris Burke as an analyst for ESPN/ABC's lead NBA broadcast team. But Burke isn't going anywhere - she just signed a multi-year extension with the network.
ESPN Demotes Wrong Culprit From Lousy NBA Finals Commentary Team
Doris Burke has been dropped from ESPN's top NBA broadcasting trio, according to a report from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Burke has been working in broadcasting since 1990, and has been at ESPN since 1991, working men's and women's college basketball, doing radio broadcasts, doing sideline reporting, and eventually making her way into the booth as a game analyst. She worked the Finals in 2024, in a trio with Mike Breen and JJ Redick, and s…
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