Current:Home > Contact-usMike Breen: ESPN laying off co-commentators Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson 'was a surprise'-LoTradeCoin
Mike Breen: ESPN laying off co-commentators Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson 'was a surprise'
View Date:2024-12-24 00:06:52
A new era is coming to NBA broadcasting after ESPN laid off Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson this summer.
Along with Mike Breen, the trio has called 15 NBA Finals — Breen and Van Gundy have reported on 17 championships together. Breen, the last one left on ESPN's broadcasting roster, spoke to the New York Post for a story published Wednesday about how the break-up shook him.
“It’s sad because we really thought we had something special and … we were able to do it a lot longer than anybody ever did,” he said. “It’s something we’ll all treasure, but we just wish it was a little bit longer.
“You don’t expect it, because it was such a great team and to have it completely broken up was a surprise.”
Doris Burke is expected to get the call-up as one of the replacements and former NBA coach Doc Rivers will join the company, according to reports, to revive his broadcasting skills after calling the 2004 Finals.
Breen, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021, first met Van Gundy and Jackson in the 1990s when they were all associated with the New York Knicks. Breen was the team's main radio commentator while Van Gundy was an assistant coach and Jackson was the point guard. Breen said the bond they share is deeper than basketball.
“They were the dream partners,” he said. “All the accomplishments were because of what we did together. I really do feel personally any success I had was because I had those two guys next to me. ...
"We’re going to be friends until the day we die. Those guys taught me so much about what I know about the NBA. I’ve learned more from those two than anybody. But they’ve also taught me about stuff that has nothing to do with basketball. I look up to both of them because not just their talents as broadcasters, but the kind of men they are. I just feel so privileged to have that time."
He noted that calling this last season's NBA Finals, where the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat for their first championship in franchise history, is a special memory he will carry with him.
"We came off a Finals that we were so proud of," he said. "It was another Finals together and it was really a great story of Denver winning for the first time and we were on a high after it was all done so to come to grips with that was our final telecast is hard."
Breen said that the way his coworkers handled their layoffs has reiterated their character. Jackson posted on social media after learning he lost his job, saying he was "shocked and dismayed," adding it was "an honor to sit besides two LEGENDS in the business" and wishing "greater measures of success" to his successors. Breen said he has spoken to Van Gundy in the aftermath of the layoffs.
"I’m amazed at how well they deal with these things and it’s one of the reasons why I’ve always looked up to them and how they handle stuff," he said. "It wasn’t a surprise to me how they handled it with such grace."
veryGood! (2164)
Related
- Mariah Carey's Amazon Holiday Merch Is All I Want for Christmas—and It's Selling Out Fast!
- Americans are more likely to see Harris’ gender as a hurdle than they were for Clinton: AP-NORC poll
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Showerheads
- Opinion: Pac-12 revival deserves nickname worthy of cheap sunglasses
- Gerry Faust, former Notre Dame football coach, dies at 89
- Wendy's is offering $1 Frostys until the end of September
- Sen. Raphael Warnock is working on children’s book inspired by the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000
- Catherine Zeta-Jones Bares All in Nude Photo for Michael Douglas’ Birthday
- Travis Kelce's and Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Houses Burglarized
- Oklahoma set to execute Emmanuel Littlejohn in beloved store owner's murder. What to know
Ranking
- Trump is likely to name a loyalist as Pentagon chief after tumultuous first term
- Utah Supreme Court to decide viability of a ballot question deemed ‘counterfactual’ by lower court
- Will Hurricane Helene impact the Georgia vs. Alabama football game? Here's what we know
- Rudy Giuliani disbarred in DC after pushing Trump’s false 2020 election claims
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul VIP fight package costs a whopping $2M. Here's who bought it.
- Vanessa Williams talks 'Survivor,' Miss America controversy and working with Elton John
- Tech tips to turn yourself into a Google Workspace and Microsoft Office pro
- 'Tremendous smell': Dispatch logs detail chaotic scene at Ohio railcar chemical leak
Recommendation
-
Inspector general finds no fault in Park Police shooting of Virginia man in 2017
-
A Nebraska officer who fatally shot an unarmed Black man will be fired, police chief says
-
Garland says officers’ torture of 2 Black men was betrayal of community they swore to protect
-
Harris makes scandal-plagued Republican the star of her campaign to win North Carolina
-
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had mild stroke this month, team says
-
2 hurt in IED explosion at Santa Barbara County courthouse, 1 person in custody
-
Derrick Rose, a No. 1 overall pick in 2008 and the 2011 NBA MVP, announces retirement
-
Garland says officers’ torture of 2 Black men was betrayal of community they swore to protect