ESPN has a three-person team, all geared up to call the 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. The trio of Mike Breen, Doris Burke, and Richard Jefferson will grace our screens yet again starting Thursday, June 5. But it could very well be their last time doing so.
There are high chances of ESPN going a different direction next year, as Burke’s spot is in a sticky situation.
Doris Burke’s Future Hangs in Limbo With ESPN
The future of the trio featuring Burke, Jefferson, and Breen is up in the air. Per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Burke’s spot “is not guaranteed for next season”, while Jefferson is currently on an expiring contract.
Jefferson is drawing interest from Amazon as per the report, ahead of their first season airing the games starting in 2025 fall. While ESPN does intend to re-sign him, nothing is locked yet.
ESPN could replace Doris Burke next season, per @AndrewMarchand
“Burke’s spot is not guaranteed for next season, according to sources familiar with ESPN’s preliminary plans. While Breen, the Basketball Hall of Famer under a long-term deal, is not going anywhere, ESPN will… pic.twitter.com/a54nJAXG4M
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 4, 2025
Burke is in the basketball Hall of Fame, and rightfully so. She worked and climbed the ladder, coming from calling the New York Liberty games on MSG Network before rising the ranks.
She then reached ESPN as a sharp and informative addition. But in this three-person booth situation, she hasn’t seemed to mold in well with Breen in the last two years. Even as he does not ignore what she says, they rarely complement each other, be it in terms of opinions or comments.
This way, ESPN has failed to create a deep game analyst bench. But whatever happens, the comfortable and informative trio will most likely not sit together again.
ESPN will evaluate its entire roster once again, since Breen, the basketball Hall of Famer, is said not to go anywhere. His long-term contract keeps him hooked.
In 2023, the network laid off Jeff Van Gundry and Mark Jackson. They’ve struggled to find the same chemistry since then. ESPN did try to re-create it with Breen, Burke, and Doc Rivers together, but Rivers left halfway through the first broadcast season to return to coaching.
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They brought in JJ Redick after that, before Jefferson filled his spot as Redick, too, left to coach the Los Angeles Lakers last year.
Burke has been associated with ESPN as a full-time analyst for the past eight years. She has called the NBA Finals games for ESPN Radio, did her stint for sideline reporting for the network, too. This time around, things aren’t probably working out as the trio is gaining mixed reviews.
