Doris Burke on her rise to ESPN’s top NBA booth, working with Doc Rivers and more – The Athletic

On Wednesday night in New York City, at an arena where she called New York Liberty games during the WNBA’s inaugural season in 1997, Doris Burke will take her seat on broadcast row at Madison Square Garden alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and longtime NBA coach Doc Rivers. She will call the Boston Celtics vs. New York Knicks season opener as one of ESPN/ABC’s two lead analysts for its NBA coverage.

It is another step — a major one — in what she describes as an accidental sports broadcasting career.

How did Burke land on ESPN/ABC’s top broadcast team, whose assignments this year will include the NBA Finals, seven ABC Saturday night games, and the league’s in-season tournament? Well, it’s been a four-decade journey since her days as a star point guard at Providence College (she was Doris Sable then). But in the near-term, when ESPN management informed Jeff Van Gundy in late June that he was being let go despite still having time on his contract, the decision was as shocking to Burke as it was to the rest of the NBA and sports broadcasting world.

“The news starts leaking out that there are going to be layoffs and every person at ESPN is thinking, ‘Where am I contractually?’” Burke said in a recent interview. “I think all of us at ESPN, myself included, we’re reading the news just like everybody else. You’re shocked, right? I mean, when you look at what Mark (Jackson), Jeff and (Breen) accomplished, it’s a body of work that is really unmatched. I don’t think there’s been a longer-tenured NBA Finals broadcast team, and there may not have been one in American professional sports. That stuff doesn’t happen by accident. Those guys are exceptional at what they do. You feel for everybody because we’re all human. Whether you’re in front of the camera like Mark and Jeff, or the behind-the-scenes people that we’ve known for the duration of our tenure at ESPN. It is an incredibly hard thing.”

In a conversation with The Athletic in 2019, Burke talked about navigating wanting to call the NBA Finals with the relationships she had made with Van Gundy and Jackson. She made it clear that she was satisfied with her career arc, even if she never landed the top analyst job.

“I want you to think about this: If I spent the remainder of my career at ESPN as an NBA analyst, essentially in the third spot behind Hubie Brown, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, how lucky would I have been in my career?” Burke said at the time. “We are talking about three of the best to ever do it. Mark, Jeff and Mike have held down the NBA Finals for over a decade with commentary that is the best of the best. Hubie Brown is a living legend. All of those men have been nothing but gracious and supportive of me. I don’t navigate it. If and when those men decide to go back to coaching, or they decide they want to do something else, ESPN would then say, ‘OK, who do we have in our rotation?’”

Burke’s agent, CAA’s Matt Kramer, called his client immediately after the Van Gundy news broke to let her know that she was in serious consideration for the job. (Jackson parted ways with ESPN one month after Van Gundy.)

“I saw some things on Twitter and elsewhere that said Doc (Rivers) is involved as were (Richard Jefferson) and JJ (Redick), and obviously any one of those men could have been sensational doing the job,” Burke said. “All of them bring different attributes and styles to what they do.”

What followed was Burke having a conversation with Dave Roberts, the head of event and studio production at ESPN and someone recently elevated to lead basketball at ESPN. Roberts, via multiple broadcast sources, is someone who has been instrumental in pushing for women and people of color to have higher-profile on-air roles at the company. Burke said that she believed Roberts went to bat for her, and that was particularly interesting to her because she had not had many interactions with Roberts outside of passing conversations at NBA events. Her first extended conversation with Roberts came when they had lunch to discuss the possibilities of this job.

“I remember the last line he said to me was, ‘We believe you’ve earned this,’” Burke said. “That was a satisfying thing to hear. I started in this business back in 1990 in an obviously very small way — Providence College women’s basketball on radio right after I left coaching. This is sort of a happy accident of a career for me. I’m very passionate about the game of basketball, obviously, but my intention graduating college was never to be an announcer. That was almost a laughable thought.”

Burke will be the first one to volunteer how big an impact Van Gundy had on her broadcast ascension at ESPN. When the ABC postseason sideline reporting job opened in 2008 after Michele Tafoya opted to give up her NBA assignments to spend more time with her family, Van Gundy was the first person to call Burke. He asked her if she would be interested in the role. She told him that she was, but she wanted to continue her color analyst work elsewhere.

“Whatever transpired behind the scenes, I know that within a couple of days of Jeff making that call — not that he has all the power, but he clearly called somebody to advocate for me,” Burke said, “I soon heard from a former ESPN executive named Jed Drake who asked if I would have an interest in the job, and I said I would. The same thing happened when Doug Collins left to go back to the Chicago Bulls in 2017. It’s probably like 10 at night, an unusual hour for Jeff to call me. He said, ‘Do you have an interest in this position?’ I said, ‘Of course I would.’ And he says, ‘Well, then you need to make a call and tell somebody.’ I said, ‘Uh, I don’t know.’ He says, ‘I’m telling you, make the call.’

“I will never forget his advocacy for me in that particular instance. I also know for a fact he pushed back with some people who maybe had some things to say about me being an analyst in the NBA. I’m always indebted.”

On-air chemistry is almost always forged away from the cameras, be it at dinners or simply hanging out together. Burke and Rivers have known each other for decades. Rivers said this week that Breen is one of his best friends. Burke and Breen are also very close. It will be a matter of figuring out the rhythm of a broadcast, especially for Rivers (who last served as a full-time broadcaster during the 2003-04 season and called the 2004 Finals on ABC). Burke’s challenge will be working in a three-person booth with years of reps in a two-person booth.

Doc, Doris and Mike.

What a squad 🤩🤩🤩 pic.twitter.com/7MWHRMLtu1

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) October 14, 2023

“You have to let the broadcast breathe,” Burke said. “When we went to the first break last week, the first thing I said to Mike Breen was, ‘Are we letting this breathe enough?’ He said no (laughs). Not in a bad way. He said we’re all excited and we all have our things to say. So this is a journey for the three of us. Thankfully, we’ll get some repetitions early at the in-season tournament and more than typical at ESPN for a No. 1 team.

“Here is what I know. I’m going to sit with Mike Breen, who is the absolute master of the craft of play-by-play skills. He knows how to elicit responses from any number of different analysts. All of us bring different sentimentality, styles, philosophies, etc. … Doc Rivers is one of the most personable, fun people I’ve had the occasion to sit in coaches meetings with. There isn’t a thing Doc Rivers hasn’t seen in 13 years as a player or over two decades as a coach. I am incredibly fortunate to be sitting with those two men, and I’m really very thankful for that.”

Burke said she has no interest spending time on how long this broadcast trio will last, but one real factor is Rivers will be an obvious candidate for NBA coaching jobs should he desire one. Rivers said this week in an ESPN conference call that it’s too early for him to know if he misses coaching yet.

“I think let the season go on, and I’ll find that out, but this is the journey I’m on right now,” Rivers said. He made ESPN no promises on his length of stay as a broadcaster.

“You know how I do my job? Tell me what my next game is and how (I can) best prepare for that,” said Burke. “Listen, Doc Rivers is a Hall of Fame coach, and at the end of the season, if there are job openings, one of the first calls people are going to make is to Doc Rivers. Then Doc is going to have to make a decision on that. I have my hands full just getting prepared for this.”

Said her friend and fellow ESPN broadcaster Holly Rowe: “To see Doris ascend to this position makes me so happy. She deserves it. I have long thought she is our best analyst. Her ability to deliver succinct analysis with flair, humor and skill is unparalleled. I always tell new analysts, ‘Listen to Doris.’ As a fellow woman in the business, it’s a relief to see her get what she deserves regardless of gender. Just excellence being recognized. How wonderful.”

The NBA has already set its date for Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals — June 6. Even after all her television reps, Burke says she already knows the nerves are going to be buzzing that night.

“I’m going to be nervous as hell,” she said. “I’m nervous before every game, generally speaking, but I have no doubt that it’s going to be heightened unequivocally. One of the things (ESPN vice president of production Tim Corrigan) said to me that I do think will help is that I’ve been an NBA Finals sideline reporter and a radio analyst on the NBA Finals. But the event is enormous. The number of production trucks as you walk into the building, the amount of media around, you have a heightened awareness of how the NBA Finals is just an enormous event. So I fully expect to be pretty nervous for Game 1.”

Some additional ESPN NBA media notes.

Rivers on returning to broadcasting: “It’s really my third time. When I retired (from playing, in 1996), I did three years on TNT. I worked with Verne Lundquist and Kevin Harlan. The young Kevin Harlan was a rookie then, if you remember. He was young. He was yelling early (laughs). That’s what I remember. Then I coached the (Orlando) Magic, and then I went to ABC and had a chance to work with Al Michaels. As a broadcaster if you can work with Verne Lundquist and Al Michaels and Kevin Harlan, you’ve done a lot of good stuff. It makes you look a lot better.

“Mike Breen has been one of my best friends for 20 years. We go on vacation together every summer. I’ve known him a long time. We went to Ireland this summer. Doris is someone from afar that I’ve always liked, I liked listening to. I like how serious she is about basketball. Loves it; it’s her passion. I’m really just looking forward to getting back in, but it’s been a long break, I’ll say that.”

Burke, on the NBA’s new in-season tournament: “Is it going to catch on right away? No. Tradition takes time. These guys are competitive. Those roster spots on those 30 teams are precious and competitive and you don’t get there unless you’re ready to take somebody’s heart out. So as this thing gets legs, the competitive instincts, the financial remuneration, all those things are going to matter to these guys. It has the effect of making a Friday night in November a little bit more important for the NBA up against all that competition. That’s a great thing, obviously, for us as a broadcast network, but for the NBA as a business as well.”

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(Photo of Doc Rivers, Doris Burke and Mike Breen: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)