While there is a ton of speculation and intrigue as to who might fill what seats with the NBA’s new media partners at NBC and Amazon next season, this one was not a cliffhanger. As expected, NBC made it official on Wednesday as they named Mike Tirico as their lead play-by-play announcer for the NBA’s return beginning next season.
Tirico joined NBC in 2016 and has firmly established himself as the face of the network’s sports offerings, succeeding the likes of Al Michaels and Bob Costas. He took over primetime hosting duties of the Olympics from Bob Costas at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He then took the baton for Sunday Night Football from Michaels in 2022 when the legendary broadcaster shifted to Amazon to call Thursday Night Football for the streamer.
In the meantime, Tirico has appeared on pretty much every other sports property that NBC has televised in the last decade from horse racing to golf to hockey. Now that list will include the NBA, which he called for a number of years at ESPN.
The only thing Mike Tirico hasn’t done for NBC is call an English Premier League soccer game, but maybe that isn’t far behind either. Odds are he would sound like he was doing it his entire life if so.
Can’t wait to have Mike Tirico (@miketirico) courtside with the NBA returning to NBC and Peacock! pic.twitter.com/NQog5Qv3zr
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) January 22, 2025
In the announcement from the network, NBC says that Tirico will call “one or more games per week” following the conclusion of the NFL season and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. However, he will also call some games while pulling double duty with the NFL during early months the regular season including NBC’s season opener in October.
Mike Tirico, who called NBA games for 15 seasons for ESPN from 2002-2016, is returning to the NBA as NBC Sports’ lead play-by-play voice when its coverage of the association begins with the 2025-26 season this October across NBC and Peacock.
Tirico is the voice of many of NBC Sports’ biggest events, serving as its Olympics primetime host and the play-by-play voice for Sunday Night Football, pacing to be primetime television’s No. 1 show for a record 14 consecutive years. Since joining NBC Sports in 2016, Tirico has also hosted or called high-profile events such as the Kentucky Derby, Indianapolis 500, Stanley Cup Playoffs and Final, U.S. Olympic Team Trials, golf’s U.S. Open, Open Championship, THE PLAYERS, and TOUR Championship, and more.
“I could not be more thrilled about returning courtside to call NBA games,” said Tirico. “My 15 years of chronicling the best basketball players in the world still stands as one of the highlights of my career. Like so many others, my love of the league took hold during the unforgettable days of the NBA on NBC back in the ’90s. The chance to be a part of the team bringing that iconic partnership back to life has us incredibly excited.”
He is expected to work one or more games per week once NBC Sports’ coverage of the NFL and Milan Cortina Olympic Winter Games conclude in February 2026. He will call select games prior to that time, including the NBA season opener in October 2025.
“We are excited that Big Event Mike Tirico will be returning to his courtside seat as the NBA returns to NBC and debuts on Peacock,” said Sam Flood, Executive Producer, NBC Sports. “From the Olympics to Sunday Night Football to major golf championships and now the NBA, Mike is the most versatile voice in sports.”
Mike Tirico has reached the rarefied air of the likes of Michaels, Jim Nantz, and Joe Buck where a network can plug him in as the top guy in every sporting event that they televise and he doesn’t seem out of place. And at 58 years old, Tirico will likely be the main NBA voice for the length of the association’s new deal with NBC that runs for 11 years.
Now the attention will turn to who joins Tirico in the broadcast booth. The network has already signed rising star Jamal Crawford as a lead analyst. He could conceivably work with Tirico as a two-man team or along with someone else (Reggie Miller perhaps?) in a three-man booth. Noah Eagle and Dwyane Wade should be in line to continue their acclaimed work from the Summer Olympics as NBC’s number two team.
If that’s the lineup NBC does roll out for the NBA’s return in 2025, then the peacock will start strong in the long-anticipated comeback of the NBA on NBC. Now if we can only get Roundball Rock finalized, then all will be right with the world.