Doris Burke is out as a voice of the NBA Finals.
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, ESPN has decided to demote Burke after two years on its No. 1 crew. Tim Legler will move into the chair alongside Richard Jefferson and longtime play-by-play legend Mike Breen.
There had been some speculation Jefferson could be bumped too, but he signed an extension in June and will stay put. Burke, meanwhile, remains in contract talks and could resurface on ESPN’s second team for the 2025-26 season.
Legler, a former sharpshooter and 10-year NBA vet, has been at ESPN for 25 years and started calling games regularly just two seasons ago. Now he gets the promotion to the league’s biggest stage.
This is the latest move in ESPN’s ongoing shuffle to replace the chemistry of the old Van Gundy–Jackson–Breen trio, a breakup that never sat well with fans — or even with Breen.
Burke’s run drew heavy criticism from viewers, most recently from Thunder fans unhappy with her calls during the playoffs. Jefferson even backed her publicly in May by wearing a shirt supporting Burke during a broadcast.
But the shakeup is now official: Legler’s in, Burke’s out, and ESPN is still searching for the magic it once had when its Finals coverage felt like must-watch television.
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Big win for the adults.
Legler talks to us like we’re adult people who tuned in for basketball.
Burke was about something else. Always making character judgements, usually based on / or creating an easy narrative. Story time, narrative reinforcement, delivered with polarized judgment. Her more demonstrative vocal frustrations about something on the court made clear her lack of attention to detail or full awareness of situations and possibilities. She brought worry, frustration, and judgement to every broadcast, none of which need to be there. She represents calculated control and dissatisfaction / judgement of the product. And so the BS flowed like water.
Very glad its over. Legler is none of that. All about the game. Big win.