Jeff Van Gundy has stayed quiet since being laid off by ESPN last summer as the network shook up its top NBA broadcast booth after nearly two decades of Van Gundy calling games alongside Mike Breen. But in a new interview with Dan Le Batard, his brother Stan Van Gundy shredded the worldwide leader for how it treated his brother.
Stan Van Gundy accused ESPN of dragging its feet and preventing Jeff Van Gundy from landing a coaching or front office job, stomping on 17 years of goodwill between ESPN and the man who called nearly 20 NBA Finals for the network.
“He was hurt by it, I mean he worked for them for 17 years. And it wasn’t even just the fact that they made the move, I mean they s*** on him,” Stan explained in an interview on South Beach Sessions. “The timing was awful. They waited until basically the NBA market in terms of coaching jobs, assistant jobs, front office jobs was already gone by to make the move. And then they delayed and delayed and delayed on a buyout that would free him to work for [other] people.
“I mean after 17 years of being in arguably … the best game broadcast booth in the business in basketball, and being the kind of person he is, ESPN s*** on him.”
Jeff was laid off along with his broadcast partner Mark Jackson as part of a round of cost-cutting layoffs by ESPN last summer, but rumors persist that the NBA itself disliked Van Gundy being a public face of the league as a broadcaster given his constant criticism of officiating and league rules. Commissioner Adam Silver denied the league had a hand in Jackson or Van Gundy’s dismissal last year, but Jackson stated recently he believes that criticism is part of why he and Van Gundy are jobless.
Jeff is now an adviser for the championship favorite Boston Celtics.
“This stuff happens in the business, we’ve all been through it,” Stan added. “We’ve been fired and everything else, but there’s ways to do it and ways not to do it. … I thought ESPN was absolutely miserable to him after what he had given them for 17 years.”
After Le Batard pointed out that the more quiet, subtle Jeff probably wouldn’t appreciate Stan being so vocal about Jeff’s professional situation, Stan agreed but insisted it needed to be said.
“My brother wouldn’t be happy if I was saying this, but it’s what happened and that’s what I’m going to say,” Stan said. “And you know what, I don’t think anybody who knows the situation would disagree with me at all.”
The divorce between the long-tenured, well-respected Van Gundy and ESPN seemed ugly, and it clearly was. Props to Stan for standing up for his brother as ESPN continues to search for a replacement booth that works after spinning through two color commentators in the course of six months.
