Veteran analyst Tim Legler will join ESPN’s lead broadcast team this season.
ESPN today announced its deep roster of NBA game commentators for the 2025-26 season. Veteran analyst Tim Legler will join ESPN’s lead NBA broadcast team, which includes Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Breen, analyst and NBA Champion Richard Jefferson and reporter Lisa Salters.
Legler, Breen, Jefferson and Salters will call the NBA Finals on ABC, the Conference Finals, high-profile first and second round games during the NBA Playoffs, a Christmas Day game and NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC – the marquee, national NBA game of the week. Legler is celebrating his 25th anniversary with ESPN, having served as an analyst since 2000.
ESPN has also signed Jefferson to a new, multi-year agreement. The NBA Champion served as NBA Finals analyst for the first time in 2025. He joined ESPN in 2019 as a studio analyst. Jefferson will continue to call ESPN’s top NBA games and make select studio appearances.
ESPN Extends Doris Burke
ESPN today also announced it has reached a multi-year extension with analyst and Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame broadcaster Doris Burke. Burke will continue to call high-profile NBA games on ESPN and ABC, including the NBA Sunday Showcase series. Her assignments will include full slates of games throughout the regular season and the NBA Playoffs. Burke will regularly work alongside play-by-play voice Dave Pasch. With this new deal, Burke’s tenure at ESPN will extend more than 35 years. She first covered basketball for ESPN in 1991 and has since been assigned to 17 NBA Finals, including six as a game analyst between ABC and ESPN Radio, as well as 11 as sideline reporter on ABC.
ESPN previously announced a contract extension for Lisa Salters. To read more on Salters, and to view ESPN and ABC’s 2025-26 game schedule, visit ESPNPressRoom.com.
ESPN’s deep roster of game commentators
As ESPN enters its 24th consecutive season of industry-leading NBA game coverage, it will once again be led by a deep and talented roster of play-by-play voices, analysts and sideline reporters. Dave Pasch, Ryan Ruocco and Mark Jones will once again join Breen as play-by-play voices this season. Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer broadcaster Jay Bilas and two-time NBA Executive of the Year Bob Myers will return as a game analysts, joining Legler, Jefferson and Burke in the rotation. Salters will lead the revamped sideline reporting team, which also includes Katie George, and Jorge Sedano among others to be added.
More information on ESPN NBA commentators, including ESPN Radio’s game broadcasts, will be available soon.
