Michael Grady is returning to Brooklyn.
After spending the better part of six years as a sideline reporter for the Brooklyn Nets on YES Network, Grady is returning to Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. But the Minnesota Timberwolves play-by-play voice, who has gotten a chance to get his feet wet on the national stage, is not returning to call Nets games.
Instead, Grady was announced as the latest addition to the New York Liberty’s broadcast team. The Brooklyn-based WNBA franchise is also owned by Joe and Clara Tsai, owners of the Brooklyn Nets. This marks Grady’s return to the WNBA and the Liberty, expanding on his previous work calling games in 2022 and 2023 with the team.
We’ve got an all-star crew 🤩!
Introducing our @fox5ny Broadcast Team for the 2024 season 📺. We can’t wait for this squad to light up the tri-state area for #SEAFOAMSZN!! 🗽 pic.twitter.com/Yfu0OEOsbr
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) May 10, 2024
In addition to Grady, the Liberty announced that Zora Stephenson and Chris Shearn would be included in the rotating cast of play-by-play announcers. Stephenson, who previously served as a sideline and digital reporter for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports/Fox Wisconsin, made history in 2021 when she became the first American-born Black woman to call an NBA game. She also serves as the play-by-play voice for Peacock’s exclusive slate of Big Ten Women’s Basketball and as a sideline reporter for NBC Sports’ coverage of Notre Dame Football and Big Ten Football.
As for Shearn, he’ll return as the team’s most recent play-by-play voice, as he’s been with the Liberty since 2019.
Ros Gold-Onwude and Julianne Viani-Braen will join them as analysts. Gold-Onwude was with the Liberty broadcast from 2012-17. Viani-Braen, a former YES Network analyst, will return to Liberty broadcasts in a similar role.
Tina Cervasio, a 20-year broadcast veteran and the newly-named Liberty’s sideline reporter, rounds out the broadcast crew.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.