Doris Burke Demoted From ESPN’s Finals Team But Inks New Multi

By Michael Mashburn From Daily Voice

Hall of Fame broadcaster and Long Island native Doris Burke will no longer call the NBA Finals for ESPN.

Tim Legler will move into the lead broadcast team alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, analyst Richard Jefferson, and sideline reporter Lisa Salters, the network announced Thursday, Aug. 28.

That group will handle the NBA Finals, Conference Finals, and other marquee games.

Burke, meanwhile, will remain a central voice on the network’s NBA coverage, joining play-by-play voice Dave Pasch on ESPN’s No. 2 NBA broadcast team after signing a multi-year extension.

She will continue calling high-profile regular-season matchups and playoff games on ESPN and ABC, including the network’s NBA Sunday Showcase series.

The move comes after Burke spent the past two years as part of the NBA Finals broadcast, making history as the first woman to serve as a television analyst for the championship series.

The shift generated buzz throughout the league earlier this year, with Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle defending Burke during the Finals and Jefferson publicly showing his support by wearing a shirt that read, “My favorite broadcaster is … Doris Burke.”

Despite the reshuffling, Burke’s new contract extends her tenure at ESPN to more than 35 years. Since joining the network in 1991, she has covered 17 NBA Finals—six as a game analyst between ABC and ESPN Radio, and 11 as a sideline reporter for ABC.

A native of West Islip on Long Island, Burke was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018. Her career has made her one of the most recognizable and respected voices in basketball broadcasting.