Former Sixers coach Doc Rivers joins ESPN as the network’s top analyst for NBA games
Rivers joins Doris Burke and Mike Breen as the network's lead commentators.
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As expected, ESPN announced Monday that Doc Rivers will join Doris Burke and Mike Breen to form the new lead commentator team for the network’s coverage of NBA games next season.
ESPN has reached a multiyear deal with Rivers, who posted a 154-82 record in three seasons as 76ers coach. Overall, Rivers has a 1,097-793 record in an NBA coaching career that began in 1999-2000 with the Orlando Magic. Rivers, 61, also has coached the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers.
Burke also agreed to a multiyear extension with ESPN. The trio will make its debut during ESPN’s opening week of NBA coverage in October. Along with reporter Lisa Salters, they will call the NBA Finals, Eastern Conference finals, NBA playoffs, Christmas Day games, and the NBA Saturday Primetime series on ABC.
The Sixers fired Rivers after last season’s disappointing loss in the second round of the playoffs. He replaces Jeff Van Gundy, who was laid off last month as part of companywide cutbacks imposed by parent company Disney. Van Gundy had been with ESPN for 16 years, calling NBA games and the NBA Finals alongside Breen and Mark Jackson.
This wouldn’t be Rivers’ first time on TV. After he was fired by the Magic in 2003, ABC hired Rivers as its lead NBA analyst, where he called the NBA Finals alongside longtime NFL announcer Al Michaels. His TV career lasted just a year; he was hired by the Celtics in 2004.