Broadcasters
Since the debut of NBA games on the network, ESPN Radio games have featured the lead broadcast team of Jim Durham on play-by-play and Dr. Jack Ramsay as the color commentator. Other broadcasters have included Kevin Calabro, Brent Musburger, Tim Legler, Howard David, Doug Brown, and Will Perdue. Musburger has called several NBA Finals for ESPN Radio, his last being the 2004 NBA Finals.
In June 2006, ESPN announced that Mike Tirico would replace Jim Durham on NBA Finals games starting in 2007. Initially, Dr. Jack Ramsay said that he would retire.
| “ | Working with is a pleasure, he's the best play-by-play guy in the business, and I will miss very much not working with him. But we were not going to work the Finals together, and I didn't want to do it with anybody else. | ” |
Ramsay did not retire; as of the 2008-09 NBA season, he worked regular season games with Durham, until Western Conference Finals. Tirico along with Hubie Brown calls Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals. Ramsay joined them in the 2009 NBA Finals. Durham called the 2010 Finals, as Tirico was on assignment at the World Cup. Tirico did not call either of the conference finals played in 2012 due to other commitments; Durham and Ramsay called the Eastern Conference Finals, while Calabro and Brown called the Western Conference Finals. The Durham-Brown-Ramsay trio called the 2012 NBA Finals. Durham's last assignment was the opening game of the 2012–13 NBA season between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat, shortly before his death on November 5.
Read more about this topic: NBA On ESPN Radio