Marv Albert has been a part of NBC’s nostalgia push during its first NBA season back in over two decades. But as he revealed in a new interview with Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina, he wanted to be an even bigger part of it than he was.
NBC asked Albert to do more than just narrate opens this season. He and Bob Costas both recorded narrated opens to introduce select games throughout the year — Albert’s came in November for 76ers-Celtics, the first time most basketball fans had heard him on a national broadcast since he retired from Turner in 2021 — but the network also wanted him in the booth for a full game.
According to Albert, the assignment would have been San Antonio at Philadelphia early in the season, when Joel Embiid was still healthy, but he had to decline due to voice issues and was honest with Traina about how his own preparation standards played into the decision.
I couldn’t do it. I’ve had some voice issues,” he said. “So, I couldn’t do it, but it would have been nice to do. But to parachute in when I’m not following it — I follow it, but not as closely as if I were doing games. I was very big on preparation, really going crazy on it, certainly talking to coaches all the time, so I don’t feel I’m at that level. I like watching the games on TV. I have no problem with that. I’m busy.
That Spurs-76ers game ended up becoming Throwback Tuesday in March, when NBC went all the way in on the nostalgia concept. The broadcast featured Bob Costas on play-by-play game alongside Mike Fratello and Doug Collins, while veteran Jim Gray had sideline reporting duties. And Hannah Storm — who shocked the industry when she left NBC for ESPN in the mid-2000s — anchored studio coverage next to Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas and fellow ESPNer P.J. Carlesimo.
Before the broadcast, Costas said during an appearance on 94WIP in Philadelphia that Albert, Ahmad Rashad, and Julius Erving had all wanted to be involved and couldn’t make it happen.
“They all wanted to be part of it,” Costas said.
NBC’s broader nostalgia effort this season extended well beyond the throwback broadcast. The network brought back Roundball Rock and had John Tesh perform the song live at the All-Star Game. It used AI to recreate the late Jim Fagan’s voice for lineup announcements. It featured a Michael Jordan interview series with Mike Tirico. And it had Costas appearing courtside for games throughout the year. Getting Albert into the booth for a game would have been another feather in that cap, and it sounds like the will was there on both sides. It just didn’t come together.
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.