It’s been five months since the Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick as their head coach and ESPN has yet to find a full-time replacement for the now-former analyst.
But while the Worldwide Leader is spending the first half of the NBA season auditioning candidates alongside Mike Breen and Doris Burke, it may also opt to forego a replacement for Redick in its top broadcast booth altogether.
“We’re not locked into that,” ESPN content president Burke Magnus said of a three-person booth while appearing on SI Media with Jimmy Traina. “We had a magical situation for a lot of years with Breen, [Jeff] Van Gundy and [Mark] Jackson and people got comfortable with that. But we don’t look at it that way at all. We’re not ruling it in or ruling it out.”
While that may be the case, it’s certainly a formula ESPN has attempted to replicate since laying off Van Gundy and Jackson ahead of the 2023-24 season. But after hiring Doc Rivers to join Breen and Burke in its top NBA booth, the longtime head coach abruptly left midseason to become the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Rather than just rolling with Breen and Burke for the remainder of the season, the network added Redick to the booth despite Magnus saying that the former NBA shooting guard was upfront with ESPN about the likelihood he’d be taking a coaching job in the offseason, which he ultimately did. Now the network is spending the first half of the current season auditioning talents like Richard Jefferson, Jay Bilas and Tim Legler alongside Breen and Burke, with a frontrunner from the group having yet to emerge.
“Really what we’re trying to solve for here is who’s going to call the Finals? Who’s going to call the Conference Finals and the Finals?” Magnus said. “We have this whole entire regular season in front of us to give people the opportunity to see what kind of chemistry develops and make that decision when we’re ready. And then looking ahead to next year, who knows?”
In other words, regardless of who — if anyone — emerges, it doesn’t sound like ESPN is planning on it being a long-term solution.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.