Mike Breen on ESPN’s fourth NBA Finals booth in four years: ‘It is a challenge’

It’s the 21st consecutive season calling the NBA Finals for ESPN’s Mike Breen, and for the last four years, he’s been doing it with a different set of analysts each time.

This season, ESPN has settled on Richard Jefferson, in his second year as a lead analyst, and Tim Legler, making his NBA Finals debut, to join Breen on the NBA’s biggest stage. The musical chairs next to Breen has been a source of consternation among fans in recent years, particularly because ESPN’s decision to fire longtime lead analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson back in 2023 caused the inconsistencies in the first place.

But Breen, professional as ever, has maintained a high approval rating through it all. And this year, while acknowledging switching partners so frequently can be difficult, Breen is confident the work he, Jefferson, and Legler have put in during the season will pay off for this final series.

During a press call ahead of this year’s NBA Finals, Breen admitted the rotating cast of announcers can actually be enjoyable as a challenge.

“Part of the fun of the job is working with so many different people, but it is a challenge because you just get familiar with people in terms of how they speak on the air, how they interact with their other analysts,” Breen said.

Unlike the previous couple of seasons, where Breen’s reps with his Finals analysts were more limited for a number of reasons, the continuity of this year’s lead booth has Breen excited.

“Like in a basketball team, continuity is important,” he said. “Like a broadcast team, continuity is important, and we’ve been able to do a lot of games this year. I’m thrilled with how we started and how we continue to get better every game.”

In 2024, ESPN’s first year following the departure of Van Gundy and Jackson, things did not go according to plan for the network. Doc Rivers and Doris Burke were set to form ESPN’s lead team alongside Breen, but Rivers left mid-season to coach the Milwaukee Bucks. That left JJ Redick to slot in at the eleventh hour alongside Burke, giving the lead team very few reps to build chemistry for the Finals.

That offseason, Redick took a coaching job of his own with the Los Angeles Lakers, creating more uncertainty with ESPN’s lead team headed into 2025. That uncertainty would continue throughout the regular season as ESPN chose not to formally name a lead analyst alongside Burke, instead rotating various announcers in and out and even experimenting with a two-person team consisting of only Breen and Burke. Eventually, ESPN tapped Jefferson to take the third spot.

The lack of chemistry was quite apparent over the seven-game series between the Thunder and Pacers, however, and ESPN opted to send Burke down to the No. 2 team, replacing her with Legler this season. So for the first time since the 2023 NBA Finals, Breen has had a full year of reps with the same booth. The hope is that the experience will shine through on the broadcast.

“I give so much credit — and it’s hard for me to publicly say something nice about Richard, but he was so welcoming to Tim and bringing him in … The two play off of each other so well,” Breen said. “They have different perspectives as players. I appreciate listening to them talk about those experiences. They have so much fun together. They knew each other before the season began, but they’ve become great friends.”

Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs begins on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.