Mark Jones ended ESPN’s NBA Today the same way for years: studio lights dimming as he flicked an imaginary basketball toward an invisible hoop, his voice trailing off with signature smoothness. It was a small thing, a quirky sign-off that became ritual for fans who grew up watching the show in the 1990s.
That same playful energy defined Jones for three and a half decades on the network. Now, the 64-year-old Toronto native is stepping away from ESPN, and the basketball world isn’t quite ready to let go.
Mark Jones, the Voice Behind ‘LeBronto,’ Signs Off From ESPN After 36 Years
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand broke the news Friday that Jones will call his final game for ESPN on Sunday. According to Miami Herald reporter Barry Jackson, Jones is leaving on his own terms. ESPN will air a tribute during the broadcast. Jones himself announced the update on BlueSky.
NEWS: NBA play-by-player Mark Jones’ last broadcast with ESPN will be this Sunday, The Athletic has learned.
He has been with ESPN since 1990.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) April 10, 2026
Jones joined ESPN in 1990 after a stint anchoring for TSN in Canada. He quickly became one of the network’s most versatile voices, bouncing between NBA coverage, college football, women’s basketball, the WNBA, and, more recently, the UFL.
He called play-by-play for the 2011 NBA Finals on ESPN 3D. He hosted SportsCenter coverage of the Finals across two different stretches. He even interviewed President Barack Obama in 2012 at the Verizon Center before Team USA faced Brazil.
But basketball was always home. Jones brought a cadence to NBA broadcasts that nobody else could replicate. His calls came with flavor baked in: a player getting hot was “hotter than fish grease,” a defender stripped of the ball had his “cornbread taken,” and an isolation scorer was “playing with his food” or reaching into his “do-it-yourself kit.”
During a sloppy sequence in the 2020 bubble, he deadpanned that the action “looks like LA Fitness at 3 o’clock right now.”
He didn’t just describe games; he seasoned them.
Jones’ most enduring contribution to the NBA lexicon came in 2018. LeBron James was destroying the Raptors on their home floor in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
As the third quarter ended with Cleveland pulling away, Jones sent viewers to a commercial with a smirk: “We’ll be back to LeBronto for the fourth quarter after this.”
The hashtag exploded. Wikipedia locked its Toronto page to prevent edits. A Toronto native had renamed his hometown after a King from Akron.
Reactions poured in after Friday’s news broke.
“What a loss for ESPN,” wrote journalist Britni Danielle. “Mark Jones is SO good on the call. Had so much knowledge, skill and flavor.”
What a loss for ESPN. Mark Jones is SO good on the call. Had so much knowledge, skill and flavor.
Glad he’s leaving on his own terms, but it’s still a huge loss for the mothership. https://t.co/c3RPxTjFyl
— Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) April 10, 2026
NBA writer Tim Reynolds invoked Jones’ signature phrase: “This one hurts, even more than getting splattered by something hotter than fish grease.”
Podcast host Nekias Duncan offered a single-word response: “WHAT.”
One fan captured the generational impact: “I have been watching this man on my TV screen since I was in 2nd grade at my grandma’s house shooting an imaginary ball at the end of NBA Today. I turn 43 this month.”
Another fan echoed the sentiment, writing, “This sucks. Mark Jones is a staple of my lifelong memories watching games on ESPN.”
Others looked ahead with concern. With Jones gone and lead voice Mike Breen now 64, one fan put the situation bluntly: “Pack the company up once Breen retires.” It’s a sentiment that speaks to how thin ESPN’s bench of iconic NBA voices has become.
Jones will call his final ESPN game Sunday at 6 p.m. ET when the Boston Celtics host the Orlando Magic at TD Garden on the final day of the regular season. He will remain the lead play-by-play voice for the Sacramento Kings on NBC Sports California.
