It’s a tossup right now between Chicago Bulls analyst Stacey King and Charlotte Hornets play-by-play voice Eric Collins as to which announcer brings more energy to the broadcast.
Thursday night went to King, who went absolutely bonkers after Bulls All-Star DeMar DeRozan drove past Clippers forward Nicolas Batum with ease and finished the play with a vicious dunk. The slam electrified the crowd and sent King into a frenzy as the Bulls analyst dusted off his French for the call.
Stacey King is the funniest announcer in the NBA pic.twitter.com/KfVizkHluw
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“PARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS? PARLEZ-VOUS FRANCAIS?” King yelled after jumping play-by-play voice Adam Amin with a big “OOOOHHHHH”
“Nicolas Batum, Oui Oui! Get out the way!” King said before adding a Rick Flair “Wooo!”
The 33-year-old Batum is French, which opened the door for King to show off his bilingual skills. Normally, an analyst overtaking the play-by-play announcer’s call is frowned upon, but King gets carte blanche because those electrifying moments are where the beloved commentator shines and elevates the broadcast.
The Bulls went on to win the game in overtime behind 50 points from DeRozan. After missing a free throw with 3.5 seconds left in regulation to give Chicago the lead, DeRozan scored 10 in the bonus period to seal the 135-130 victory.
Last week, King and Amin teamed up for one of the best calls of the season, when Zach LaVine unleashed an epic slam against the Pelicans. Following the dunk, King was giggling with excitement as he asked, “does anybody know – how to post videos to INSTAGRAM? My goodness.” Amin quickly joined in with a great line of his own, “ZACH LAVINE JUST SENT A MAN TO THE METAVERSE.”
Both are in the running for best call of the season, but I remain partial to Charlotte’s Eric Collins who gave NBA fans a ‘YOWZA HUM DIDDLY-DEE!’ a few months ago.
