Mark Jackson is out at ESPN as the network nears a deal to bring on Doris Burke and Doc Rivers to its top NBA broadcast team, an industry source confirmed to The Athletic. The New York Post was first to report the news. Here’s what you need to know:
- The network is close to promoting Burke and hiring Rivers to join her and play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, but the deal is not done, according to the source.
- Jackson had been a part of the lead NBA crew alongside Breen and Jeff Van Gundy since rejoining the network in 2014.
- Van Gundy was let go by ESPN last month amid a round of cost-saving layoffs at the network.
Backstory
Burke has covered basketball for ESPN since 1991 and served as a national NBA game analyst since 2017. The Hall of Famer became the first woman to serve as a game analyst for the NBA Finals in 2020 when she provided commentary on ESPN Radio, and would become the first female analyst to call NBA Finals games on network TV if promoted.
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For Doris Burke, ESPN’s top NBA job will be a deserved cap on a stellar career
Rivers spent most of the past 24 seasons as a head coach, with a brief stint as an ESPN/ABC analyst during the 2003-04 season after leaving the Orlando Magic. He was fired in May after three seasons with Philadelphia. The 61-year-old was named…
