Report: Doug Collins to leave studio and call NBA games for ESPN

With ESPN airing more games as part of its new NBA rights deal, it will shift responsibilities among its analysts. One of those whose on-air duties will change is Doug Collins, who has been part of ESPN’s NBA Countdown team since 2013.

According to The Big Lead, Collins will work 25 to 30 games. He’ll most likely work with either Dave Pasch or Ryan Ruocco on most games, but there will be times when he’s assigned to work with his 2000, 2004 and 2008 NBC Olympics partner Mike Breen to spell Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy.

During the recent Rio Olympics, Collins showed that he’s still a premier game analyst working with Marv Albert. Although Collins contributed to ESPN’s studio team, he’s better suited as a color analyst on games.

In addition to Collins becoming a game analyst, Hubie Brown has signed a new multi-year deal with ESPN that keeps him at the network. With Mike Tirico’s departure to NBC, Brown will probably be teamed with Mark Jones for most of the the season.

Doris Burke is expected to receive some assignments as an analyst, in addition to her work on the sidelines.

And with Collins leaving the studio, it appears that ESPN will be once again revamping its studio crew. The studio has seen plenty of different combinations over the years and will see another new analyst coming in.

But ESPN’s NBA announcing bench gets stronger with Collins on games, along with its current stable of game announcers. We’ll find out more about ESPN’s NBA plans as we get closer to the season.

[The Big Lead]