{"id":255566,"date":"2025-08-28T17:50:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/255566\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T17:50:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:50:14","slug":"espn-demotes-doris-burke-elevates-tim-legler-to-nba-finals-broadcast-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/255566\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN Demotes Doris Burke, Elevates Tim Legler to NBA Finals Broadcast Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Advertisement –\"Jim<\/a><\/p>\n

ESPN<\/a> is demoting Doris Burke from its NBA Finals broadcast team. The shuffle of the broadcasting roster promotes longtime network analyst Tim Legler. He will join the network\u2019s No. 1 team, replacing the hall of famer. The story was first reported<\/a> by The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Legler will join lead play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and analyst Richard Jefferson for the Finals coverage. Jefferson, who made his Finals debut in June, recently signed a new contract with ESPN. The NBA Champion joined\u00a0ESPN\u00a0in 2019 as a studio analyst.\u00a0Jefferson\u00a0will continue to call\u00a0ESPN\u2019s\u00a0top NBA games and make select studio appearances\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burke, who had been part of ESPN\u2019s Finals team for the past two seasons, made history as the first woman to serve as a broadcast analyst in any of the four major American sports. Her removal from the top team marks a significant shift in ESPN\u2019s on-air NBA coverage.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u00a0today also announced it has reached a multi-year extension with Burke.\u00a0She\u00a0will continue to call high-profile NBA games on\u00a0ESPN\u00a0and\u00a0ABC, including the\u00a0NBA Sunday Showcase\u00a0series.<\/p>\n

Her assignments will include full slates of games throughout the regular season and the NBA Playoffs.\u00a0Burke\u00a0will regularly work alongside play-by-play voice\u00a0Dave Pasch. With this new deal,\u00a0Burke\u2019s\u00a0tenure at\u00a0ESPN\u00a0will extend more than 35 years.<\/p>\n

She first covered basketball for\u00a0ESPN\u00a0in 1991 and has since been assigned to 17\u00a0NBA Finals, including six as a game analyst between\u00a0ABC\u00a0and\u00a0ESPN Radio, as well as 11 as sideline reporter on\u00a0ABC.<\/p>\n

Sources told The Athletic discussions are ongoing regarding a contract extension for Burke. Her current deal expires at the end of the upcoming season. She is expected to move to ESPN\u2019s No. 2 broadcast team if an extension is reached.<\/p>\n

Burke was promoted to ESPN\u2019s lead NBA broadcast team in 2023 after Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson were laid off.<\/p>\n

Burke\u2019s tenure on the NBA Finals team has been widely praised by fans and colleagues alike. Many cite her deep understanding of the game and ability to translate complex strategies for viewers.<\/p>\n

Legler, a former NBA player and longtime ESPN contributor, has been a fixture on the network\u2019s coverage for years. He often appears as an analyst during regular-season games and playoff broadcasts. Pairing him with Breen and Jefferson is seen as ESPN\u2019s effort to refresh its top broadcast team while maintaining continuity and experience.<\/p>\n

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated,\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n

\"Barrett<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– Advertisement – ESPN is demoting Doris Burke from its NBA Finals broadcast team. The shuffle of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19909,26865,26866,7,13027,130,2114,6,1220,11,1912,26867,6713,14053],"class_list":{"0":"post-255566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-andrew-marchand","9":"tag-barrett-media","10":"tag-barrett-sports-media","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-doris-burke","13":"tag-espn","14":"tag-mike-breen","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-finals","17":"tag-nba-playoffs","18":"tag-richard-jefferson","19":"tag-sports-media-news","20":"tag-sports-television","21":"tag-tim-legler"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115107661500251675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}