When the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks begin on Thursday night, ABC/ESPN’s Doris Burke will be making history of her own.
Burke, who was named to the lead NBA broadcasting crew for ABC/ESPN ahead of the 2023–24 season, is officially the first woman to call any major men’s championship in the United States in history.
The long-time reporter will join Mike Breen and J.J. Reddick courtside for the game as they’ve done throughout the entire NBA season.
Burke is set to work all of the NBA Finals games this season as ABC is the primary broadcaster for the games.
Tonight, Doris Burke is set to make history as the first woman to call any major U.S. men’s championship on TV. pic.twitter.com/jR7ujRJgq0
This isn’t the first time Burke’s name will be written in the history books. One of her other significant career moments came in 2017 when she was named a regular NBA game analyst for ESPN, making her the first woman to hold this position for a full season. She called the NBA Finals for ESPN Radio back in 2020, making her the first woman to do so.
The Boston Celtics hosted the Dallas Mavericks in Game 2 of the 2024 NBA Finals on Sunday night. During the "NBA Countdown" pregame show, Malika Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Mike Wilbon, Bob Myers and Josh Hart discussed Mavericks coach Jason Kidd saying that Jaylen Brown was the Celtics best player. While the panel didn't have much to disagree on during the segment, it did lead to an interesting moment between Smith and Myers.
Myers was talking about how Kidd's comments might be an attempt by the Mavericks coach to divide the locker room, as Myers pointed out that's what happens when a team is on top. The former Golden State Warriors general manager also pointed out that more than ever, people are trying to tear teams down and suggested that Stephen A. Smith was one of the people who might be doing exactly that.
Smith took exception and blamed social media instead.
"We tear teams apart more than we ever have, maybe on purpose, maybe that guy down there (pointing at Stephen A. Smith)." - Bob Myers
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 9, 2024
"The Celtics are on top, right," said Myers. "And anytime you're on top people used to come at Curry and Durant. They'd come at you in the media. They come at you on the street. And the point is—and Josh knows this—what matters is your locker room. The fabric of that locker room and what they can withstand. That Knicks fabric, you had that this year, but it is hard to find. We tear teams apart more than we ever have. Maybe on purpose, maybe not, maybe that guy down there."
That's when Smith jumped in to defend himself by saying, "Not me. Not me. Not me. That's social media. That's not me."
While the rest of the panel laughed, Myers joked about how he must have been mistaken. "Maybe you might," Myers asked. "That's somebody else? I thought it was you for a second there."
This marks the second time in a week that an ESPN colleague has called out Smith on-air after Monica McNutt put him on the spot on First Take for not using his platform to promote women's basketball before the Caitlin Clark era. When that happened, Smith took serious offense. And he clearly did not enjoy this moment either. We'll have to wait and see if he lets this one go tomorrow. It would certainly be interesting to hear him explain how he doesn't play some part in this exact kind of thing.
1. The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. The news of who will get their head-coaching job is big. It’s important. It’s significant.
For sports media nerds like myself, though, the subplot to the Lakers' coaching job is much more fascinating. And that subplot is the battle between ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
There isn’t a reporter vs. reporter duel that gets more attention from sports fans than Woj vs. Shams.
The Woj vs. Shams grudge match came to the forefront early Thursday morning when Wojnarowski broke the news that the Lakers are targeting UConn’s Danny Hurley as their next head coach.
BREAKING: The Los Angeles Lakers are targeting Connecticut’s Dan Hurley to become the franchise’s next coach and are preparing a massive, long-term contract offer to bring the back-to-back national champion to the NBA, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/6WPrigPvAW
Now, at the end of the day, who breaks the news is hardly that important. There’s no shame in Shams getting this one wrong. Sometimes sources aren’t accurate or a team changes its mind. Basically, s--- happens.
What made this particular Woj vs. Shams incident stand out is that ESPN’s biggest gun, Adam Schefter, even weighed in to send a message, whether it was intended or not.
“Hurley has been at the forefront of the Lakers’ search from the beginning of the process,” per Woj. https://t.co/Sbs5yzXS1d
Again, whether intended or not, that sentence about Hurley being at the forefront of the search from the beginning is a direct shot at Shams.
Like I said, who ultimately breaks the news of the Lakers' next coach isn’t going to change anything. But Woj coming in to throw a bomb all over Shams's earlier report makes for very entertaining tweets and memes.
2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it features an interview with The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, who shares information and gives updates on the biggest news in sports media.
Topics covered include the latest developments with the NBA's future TV deals with ESPN, NBC and Amazon and where things stand with Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT. Marchand also reveals what he thinks NBC's plan is for a lead broadcast team, what will happen with the Inside the NBA crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O'Neal, whether Barkley could end up at ESPN and why the relationship between TNT and the NBA deteriorated.
Following Marchand, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins me for our weekly "Traina Thoughts" segment. This week's topics include new sports TV shows that are on the radar and the Yankees' dominance. Plus, we read the latest Apple reviews for SI Media With Jimmy Traina.
3. In Tuesday’s Traina Thoughts, I wrote about the ridiculous notion by some people that you need to know about the WNBA’s history in order to opine on the WNBA.
Just as nonsensical as that take is this take.
Hope all the “just talking heads” are tuned into @WNBA games tonite and tomorrow and the next nite and so on…..so they can equip themselves with a deeper sense of this league. And all of these opinions are great but let it come from watching the entire league.
Nope. You absolutely do not have to watch non–Caitlin Clark WNBA games if you do not want to. No sports fan or talking head has to watch anything they are not interested in. You are not required to have a “deeper sense of the league” to opine on general topics in any sport.
4. Pat McAfee WAS a punter, so it’s not totally shocking he’d have a good leg, but this was a hell of a pass.
5. If you missed the news last week, it was announced that ESPN sold two college football playoff games to TNT. College football released its postseason schedule on Wednesday and now we know why ESPN would pass up on airing a pair of playoff games.
On Saturday, Dec. 21, TNT will air two first-round playoff games at noon and 4 p.m. ET.
It just so happens that two NFL games will take place at the same time.
Texans at Chiefs will air at 1 p.m. ET on NBC while the Steelers visit the Ravens at 4:30 p.m. on Fox.
OFFICIAL RELEASE: The College Football Playoff has announced dates, kick times and broadcast information for the 2024-25 playoff, the first year of the expanded 12-team format.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 5, 2024
7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: The longtime ABC news program, 20/20, debuted on this date in 1978. This seems like the perfect reason to post this clip that every old-school wrestling fan knows well.
Charles Barkley made a guest appearance on ESPN's NHL analyst desk during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, joining the likes of Mark Messier, P.K. Subban and Steve Levy in between the first and second periods of Monday night's game.
Levy hinted at the potential for Barkley to make the leap over to ESPN, jokingly referring to him as the "newest member of ESPN's NBA coverage" while introducing the 61-year-old.
Steve Levy wasted no time trying to convince Charles Barkley to join ESPN's NBA coverage during his guest appearance on ABC's coverage of the Stanley Cup.
"Steve Levy, Mark Messier, P.K. Subban, and the newest member of ESPN's NBA coverage?"👀pic.twitter.com/WhLPgNFReT
"Welcome Mark Messier, P.K. Subban and the newest member of ESPN's NBA coverage? Maybe?" said Levy at the start of the segment.
Rather than immediately address his job, Barkley comically changed the topic and mentioned that Messier owes him $5,000 stemming from a delay of game penalty he took during his playing days.
After discussing Barkley's hockey fandom and his relationship with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the crew circled back to the topic of Barkley's employment. The NBA Hall of Famer joked that he wished he had a job lined up and that he was back on LinkedIn.
With the NBA on TNT crew facing an uncertain future, the prospect of Barkley joining ESPN's NBA coverage isn't all too far fetched, and Levy wasted no time stirring the pot in that regard.
