A year into her new job on ESPN’s top NBA broadcast team and amid her first NBA Finals doing color commentary, Doris Burke has achieved it all in basketball broadcasting. However, one sports media insider believes she may not want to call games forever.
In two separate reports on Thursday, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic indicated that he has heard Burke “doesn’t want to be a lifer” on the job and could hang it up as a broadcaster sooner than later.
In a Q&A with colleague Richard Deitsch at The Athletic, Marchand wrote that Burke will head into year two next to Mike Breen in the fall but that ESPN could already be making plans beyond Burke for its No. 1 booth.
“Burke will continue on, but she might not go on for a long time, as I’ve heard she doesn’t want to be a lifer like Hubie Brown,” Marchand wrote.
In an interview on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast, Marchand added more fuel to the fire.
“I don’t know how long Doris Burke wants to call games,” Marchand said.
Burke has called basketball for more than 30 years and has been an NBA game analyst at ESPN since 2017. This season was her first alongside Breen with the top team, and this is her first Finals.
Burke, who is not yet 60, signed a “multi-year” extension with ESPN in 2022. Her partner, Breen, signed a five-year extension at the worldwide leader last year. He is 63.
ESPN recently extended its NBA broadcast rights for another decade, retaining the NBA Finals in its package. While the opportunity to be the voice of the most-watched basketball games in the world is significant, it is important to many to go out on their terms.
[The Athletic, SI Media with Jimmy Traina]
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.