Mike Breen has called Knicks games since 1991. But now in 2026 he will be able to announce his beloved local team in the NBA Finals for the first time as the national voice of the association.
Breen was at the mic for ESPN as the Knicks easily swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals to make it to the championship round for the first time this millennium. The Knicks last played in the NBA Finals in 1999 when Bob Costas was announcing the games with Doug Collins on NBC.
But this time it will be Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, and Tim Legler on the call for ESPN with the games televised on ABC. It will incredibly be Breen’s 21st NBA Finals on national television but the first with the team whose games he has called for almost four decades.
After Game 4 with the Finals berth clinched, fellow ESPN colleague and Knicks radio analyst Monica McNutt asked Breen what the Eastern Conference title meant to him and broadcast partner Walt “Clyde” Frazier after so many years. And Breen admitted he was overjoyed after witnessing a lot of rough seasons with the Knicks.
“I’ve been rooting for the Knicks since I’ve been 7 years old and to have a team like this is pretty darn special.” – Legendary @NYKnicks broadcaster Mike Breen on the Knicks heading to the NBA Finals.@McNuttMonica | #AlwaysKnicks pic.twitter.com/n9ma2hbovW
— KNICKS ON MSG (@KnicksMSGN) May 26, 2026
“It brings such joy,” Breen said. “I’ve been broadcasting Knick games more than half my life. And again, to sit next to one of the all-time greats and have this lifetime friendship with him, I get emotional thinking about it. We’ve broadcast a lot of bad basketball for a long time and to see the game played in the most beautiful way, for Clyde to say that this team reminds him, he doesn’t say that very often. For him to say that Jalen Brunson reminds him of the leadership of Willis. He doesn’t say that about anybody. It’s the way the game is supposed to be played. And they’re such a high character bunch that you root for them because of the effort and the type of young men that they are.”
Breen isn’t just the longtime voice of the New York Knicks, he’s also a lifelong Knicks fan growing up in Yonkers and being a Fordham graduate. And given the appreciation that he and Frazier both feel for this year’s Knicks team, it’s obvious that this run is incredibly special for him.
“There’s just such joy. I’ve been rooting for the Knicks since I was seven years old and to have a team like this is pretty darn special,” Breen declared.
Of course, Mike Breen is the consummate professional. So when he calls the Knicks in the Finals against the Spurs or the Thunder there will be no hint of bias towards his local team. But if the Knicks somehow do go all the way and lift the Larry O’Brien trophy, you couldn’t blame him for showing a little extra excitement after the final buzzer sounds if that dream does come true.
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