Friday night was a milestone of sorts for Michael Malone.
Less than a year removed from getting fired by the Denver Nuggets just days before the playoffs, the 54-year-old made his first appearance as an in-game analyst for ESPN, working the network’s “Cavaliers-Pistons All-Access” broadcast at Little Caesars Arena alongside Ryan Ruocco, Tim Legler, and Jorge Sedano.
Malone first surfaced at ESPN last May, when the network brought him in as a panelist on NBA Countdown for the Western Conference Finals almost immediately after his dismissal in Denver. His very first appearance generated headlines when comments he made about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were interpreted as a subtle dig at Nikola Jokić, though Malone quickly clarified that he had voted for his former star for MVP.
By September, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro confirmed Malone would join NBA Countdown full-time for the 2025-26 season, stepping into a role vacated by Richard Jefferson, who moved into a full-time game analyst position. Malone also debuted a virtual reality breakdown segment on Countdown in November, which generated plenty of conversation about whether the technology was ready for primetime.
Friday’s All-Access broadcast — which featured sideline and bench access throughout the game — was designed to give viewers an unusually immersive look at two of the Eastern Conference’s better teams, with camera access to the bench and players. Malone, given his background as a head coach, was a natural fit for that kind of assignment, someone who can speak to what’s happening on the floor from the perspective of a guy who has actually been standing on it. The evening did take an unexpected turn when a 12-minute arena buzzer malfunction derailed a Donovan Mitchell interview mid-broadcast, but the chaos was more a product of Little Caesars Arena’s electrical systems than anything ESPN had planned for.
After spending the first half of the year working ESPN’s studio desk on NBA Countdown, Malone made his first appearance as an in-game analyst on Friday. He’ll also be back on Sunday, with the network announcing that Malone will call the Spurs-Knicks game on the NBA Sunday Showcase alongside Ruocco and Sedano, with tip-off at 1 p.m. ET following a 12:30 p.m. NBA Tip-Off pregame on ABC.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.