NBA fans loved the NBA on NBC throwback broadcast for Tuesday night’s game between the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers. The broadcast featured 1990s NBC stars Bob Costas, Doug Collins, Mike Fratello, Jim Gray, P.J. Carlesimo, Isiah Thomas, and current ESPN anchor Hannah Storm. And the presentation featured vintage graphics that made it really feel like a ’90s NBC broadcast.
The intro to Throwback Tuesday for the NBA on NBC with Bob Costas, Doug Collins, and Mike Fratello courtside.
“Think of it as sort of like Crosby, Stills, and Nash… but not Young.” pic.twitter.com/ub2cbIuDcF
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 4, 2026
Costas recently hinted at the possibility of more NBA on NBC throwbacks in the future.
And on Tuesday, an NBC spokesman was more specific about the throwback broadcast plans in the future.
“We hope to make it an annual event,” an NBC spokesman told Front Office Sports, according to Michael McCarthy.
So, it seems to be something NBC would like to do once a year rather than multiple times in a season, and that would be a way to keep the nostalgic charm strong rather than potentially overdoing it. Then again, nobody is getting sick of the return of “Roundball Rock” for each NBC broadcast.
Costas appeared on Tuesday’s edition of Philadelphia’s 94WIP Morning Show with Joe DeCamara and Jon Ritchie and said, “For a variety of circumstances, Marv Albert is not, Ahmad Rashad is not, and [Julius Erving] is not (on the throwback broadcast). They all wanted to be part of it. And we may do this again down the road, including them and others.”
Maybe NBC will also invite Peter Vecsey next time, after he called the network out for “complete disrespect.”
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.