Doris Burke on her rise to ESPN’s top NBA booth, working with Doc Rivers and more

On Wednesday night in New York City, at an arena where she called New York Liberty games during the WNBA’s inaugural season in 1997, Doris Burke will take her seat on broadcast row at Madison Square Garden alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and longtime NBA coach Doc Rivers. She will call the Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks season opener as one of ESPN/ABC’s two lead analysts for its NBA coverage.

It is another step — a major one — in what she describes as an accidental sports broadcasting career.

How did Burke land on ESPN/ABC’s top broadcast team, whose assignments this year will include the NBA Finals, seven ABC Saturday night games, and the league’s in-season tournament? Well, it’s been a four-decade journey since her days as a star point guard at Providence College (she was Doris Sable then). But in the near-term, when ESPN management informed Jeff Van Gundy in late June that he was being let go despite still having time on his contract, the decision was as shocking to Burke as it was to the rest of the NBA and sports broadcasting world.

“The news starts leaking out that there are going to be layoffs and every person at ESPN is thinking, ‘Where am I contractually?’” Burke said in a recent interview. “I think all of us at ESPN, myself…