JJ Redick joining ESPN’s NBA Finals broadcast team with Mike Breen, Doris Burke: Sources

JJ Redick will join Mike Breen and Doris Burke onABC/ESPN’s NBA Finals broadcast team, sources briefed on the network’s decision toldThe Athletic.

The 39-year-old Redick will step into the spot vacated by Doc Rivers after he left three months into his first season of a three-year contract to return to coaching with theMilwaukee Bucks. Rivers had been signed as part of the new trio with Breen and Burke.

This past summer, ESPN fired its longtime leadNBA analysts, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, during the company’s layoffs.

Redick’s rapid rise in media began during his 15-year NBA career. He first started his popular podcast, “The Old Man And The Three,” as a player before joining ESPN upon his retirement in September 2021. He made headlines on Stephen A. Smith’s “First Take” and then soon moved to calling games. Now, he is onto the most prestigious spot in NBA broadcasting for the rest of the season, through the playoffs and the finals.

ESPN declined to comment on its decision.

This summer, the executive that oversees ESPN’s NBA coverage, David Roberts, named Redick to the network’s No. 2 team with play-by-player Ryan Ruocco and Richard Jefferson. Roberts said that trio could one day be an NBA Finals grouping.

With Redick on the No. 1 team, ESPN will evaluate if it just leaves Ruocco and Jefferson as a duo or adds a third analyst. One person who will receive more games is Bob Myers. Myers, the formerGolden State GM, is already a panelist on ABC/ESPN’s top studio team, NBA Countdown.

He has called games and is expected to receive more dates during the season. Top ESPN executives feel that Myers has already validated their decision to give him such a lofty perch as a rookie network analyst.

In June, when the NBA Finals take place, Burke will become the first female TV analyst on a major United States sports championship.

Required reading

• JJ Redick emerges as leading candidate to join ESPN’s NBA Finals broadcast team: Sources
• Doris Burke on her rise to ESPN’s top NBA booth, working with Doc Rivers and more

(Photo: Jim Poorten / NBAE via Getty Images)