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ESPN is losing a college basketball analyst to the NBA.

The Los Angeles Lakers announced Tuesday they’ve hired Miles Simon to serve as an assistant coach under Luke Walton. Simon has worked at ESPN since 2010, mostly serving as a color commentator on ESPNU.

Simon played at the University of Arizona from 1994-98 (graduating months before Walton arrived on campus), winning a championship in 1997. He then played five games for the Orlando Magic before enjoying a lengthy career overseas. He served as an assistant coach at Arizona from from 2005-08 before winding up at ESPN. After leading the 2017 USA Junior National Select Team at the Nike Hoops Summit, he’ll now return to coaching full-time, for his first go-round in the NBA.

Of course, whenever ESPN hires an ex-athlete and/or ex-coach to serve as an analyst it knows he may return to the game at some point. Given that Simon coached at the Hoops Summit, this probably isn’t a big surprise to anyone in Bristol. Still, while Simon certainly isn’t the biggest name on the ESPN college basketball roster, he’s a solid and experienced broadcaster, and the network will likely miss him.

When the Lakers announced Simon’s hire Tuesday, his colleagues at ESPN praised and congratulated him for the new gig.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.

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