We already knew that Mike Tirico would be NBC’s lead voice when the NBA returns to the network’s airwaves next season. Now we know that Reggie Miller will joining him in the booth.
According to Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel, NBC has hired Miller as its lead NBA color commentator. The Hall of Fame shooting guard has been a staple of TNTs NBA coverage since the end of his 18-year playing career in 2005, but found himself without a broadcasting home beyond this season after Warner Bros. Discovery was left on the outside looking in at the league’s latest media rights deal.
In heading to NBC, Miller reportedly won’t only call games alongside Tirico, who was recently announced as the network’s top NBA play-by-play voice, but also Noah Eagle. Likewise, former NBA shooting guard Jamal Crawford will rotate calling games next to Tirico and Eagle, effectively giving NBC two lead play-by-play voices and two lead color commentators that can work together interchangeably.
While the 59-year-old Miller has spent the entirety of his NBA media career at TNT (he’s also called college basketball for CBS), he didn’t figure to be out of work despite WBD no longer being one of the league’s rightsholders beyond this season. With NBC and fellow new league partner Amazon each filling out their respective rosters, the former Indiana Pacers star always stood out as a likely candidate to land at either platform.
As Glasspiegel notes, Miller especially makes sense at NBC, considering that he was one of the NBA’s top stars during the network’s heyday of broadcasting the league’s games in the 1990s. In many ways, the five-time All-Star’s presence on NBC makes for a full circle moment, as the Pacers were routinely featured on the network during their rivalries with the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks.
While it appears NBC has its top two broadcast teams set, its impending Sunday night studio show remains a work in progress. Meanwhile, Amazon is reportedly hiring two of Miller’s current TNT colleagues in play-by-play veterans Kevin Harlan and Ian Eagle, while also putting together a studio show currently set to feature Taylor Rooks, Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin.
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.