ABC NBA Finals announcers are Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. Mike Breen has been calling play by play for ABC since 2006.
The 2023 Championship started on June 1 as Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat booked the finals berth winning their respective Conference.
The series started with a convincing 104-93 win for Denver while Miami fought back to level the series on June 4 with a score of 111-108.
Inspired by the fantastic duo of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, the Nuggets won Game 3 by 109-94 and secured a 2-1 series lead for now.
As the action returns on Kaseya Center for Game 4 on June 9, relish the thrill and joy of the Finals with the broadcast coverage of ABC network.
All of this basketball heat and madness have been live broadcasted by YouTube TV. Meanwhile, a panel of expert sportscasters is calling games whilst sharing their profound knowledge and expertise in the American Broadcasting Company.
NBA on ABC is a production of ESPN which is later televised on ABC. Get acquainted with all the NBA Finals broadcasters in this article.
ABC NBA finals Broadcast Team
Mike Breen is the lead play-by-play announcer for the Nuggets vs Heat Final. The ongoing 2022–23 season is his 31st season as a broadcaster.
Breen started his basketball media career in 1991 as a radio announcer for WFAN and worked there till 1997. That same year, he moved to TV as a play-by-play commentator and permanently took over the role in 2006.
He has been the lead broadcaster for NBA on ABC so far, including his coverage of the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, he is also the lead anchorman for the New York Knicks games on the MSG Network.
Breen is widely famous among the NBA Fandom for yelling "BANG!" after a key shot is made late in a game. His most famous "Bang" was when Stephen Curry hit a 38-foot three-pointer which won the game against Oklahoma City in February 2016.
Other than that, the legendary sportscaster is also eminent for blurting out, "It's good!" or "Puts it in!" in the same situation.
Mike also calls NBA games for ESPN, mainly on Fridays and occasionally on Wednesdays. He previously called college basketball as well.
Moreover, the 62-year-old broadcasting powerhouse is best known as a former play-by-play caller for the New York Giants preseason games. He also has experience in calling NFL regular season games for NFL on Fox and NFL on NBC.
Besides his historic moments, Breen has also announced five Olympic Games; one Winter Olympics and four Summer Olympics. He has covered both men’s and women’s basketball at the 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Olympics.
Similarly, the elderly Breen is the 1998 "Broadcaster of the Year” in the state of New York. ESPN reported that he recently received the 2022 "Vin Scully Award for Excellence in Sports Broadcasting" from his Alma mater, Fordham University.
NBA Finals Commentators 2023
Commentators for the 2023 NBA Finals TV broadcast are:
- Jeff Van Gundy
- Mark Jackson
Jeff Van Gundy
A former basketball coach, Jeff Van Gundy started his coaching career in 1985 and bid farewell to his work in 2007. Since then, he has been a sports broadcaster, mainly calling NBA Finals alongside Mike Breen and Mark Jackson.
Jeff initially started out as a guest analyst for ESPN's broadcast of the 2007 game between Phoenix Suns and SA Spurs in San Antonio, Texas. He assumed a career as ESPN's regular broadcast member after that.
Jeff shares the same broadcasting career as his elder brother, Stan Van Gundy. Stan is a TV commentator for the NBA on TNT and College Basketball on CBS.
Meanwhile, Jeff was born on January 19, 1962, in Hemet, California. He initially attended Yale University, then transferred to Menlo College, and later graduated from Nazareth University in 1985.
Van Gundy started coaching basketball at McQuaid Jesuit HS right after graduating for a year. He then took on the position of an assistant coach at Providence College from 1986 to 1988 and at Rutgers University for the next year.
From 1989 to 1996, Jeff looked after the New York Knicks as their assistant coach and served as their head coach from 1996 to 2001. Though he had led the Knicks to the 1999 NBA Finals, the team eventually lost a chance to become NBA champions to the San Antonio Spurs.
Van Gundy later served as the head coach of the Houston Rockets from 2003 to 2007, then finally embarked on a sportscasting career.
Mark Jackson
Former NBA point guard, Mark Jackson, started his broadcasting career in 2005 with YES Network to cover New Jersey Nets games.
It was after his retirement from his playing career in 2004. He last played for Houston Rockets under coach Van Gundy and the two currently share the same panel as colleagues. Mark played in NBA from 1987 to 2004.
New York Knicks had drafted Jackson as their 18th pick of the 1987 draft. Throughout his career, he went on to play with the Clippers, Pacers, Nuggets, Raptors, Knicks, and Jazz.
As Mark worked with YES Network from 2005 to 2008, and he began a coaching career in 2011 till 2014. He was the head coach of the Golden State Warriors and led them to consecutive playoff appearances in the 2012-13 and 2014-15 seasons.
It was the first consecutive playoff appearance in 20 years for the Warriors. GSW later fired him in 2014, making him return to his media career.
Mark and ESPN signed a multiyear agreement on May 17, 2014. Since then, Jackson has remained active as a game analyst for the network.
NBA Finals Sideline Reporters
The NBA Finals sideline reporting team is led by Lisa Salters. The former Penn State student-athlete started her media career as a journalist.
In 1995, Lisa became the first West Coast correspondent for NewsOne, an ABC affiliate news service. There, she covered the O.J. Simpson civil and criminal trials, making her the face of the channel.
She accepted ESPN's offer to become a sportscaster in 2000. More than two decades down the lane, Lisa Salters has done a phenomenal job.
Lisa has been serving as a sideline reporter and co-producer for Monday Night Football (MNF) since 2012. No wonder, she is now the longest-tenured sideline reporter in the show's history.
Salters has been the lead reporter for NBA on ABC since 2005. She is also seen on NBA Saturday Primetime and NBA Sunday Showcase games.
Likewise, she is also the co-host of the award-winning film and documentary series E:60 on ESPN. Besides her busy schedule covering sports on TV, she is a 2017 Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
Lisa, along with her broadcasting team of Breen, Van Gundy, and Jackson, has been doing their best to cover the ongoing 2023 NBA Finals.
Fair enough to say, these veterans have made watching NBA so much fun with their engaging style, elite commentary, and fun-filled broadcast.
