The 2024 NBA Finals are set to tip-off on Thursday night on ABC — and when the broadcast begins, history will be made.
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On the broadcast for ESPN will be Mike Breen, JJ Redick, and Doris Burke.
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Breen has been a staple on ESPN NBA Finals broadcasts, while Redick will be making his debut. Burke, however, will be the one making history.
A woman has never served as a TV game analyst for a men's professional championship event in U.S. history, per the NBA. That changes on Thursday night.
Burke was asked what kind of weight that holds in an interview posted on NBA's social media account.
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"Well, I'm trying to ignore the weight for now if there is, in fact, any," Burke said. "One of the things I've done my entire career is just, sort of, think, 'What's my next game and how do I best prepare for it?' And if I keep it in that context it helps me to relax and just enjoy what's in front of me. So, good lord willing, I'm able to do that tonight."
Tonight Doris Burke will become the first woman to serve as a TV game analyst for any major men's professional championship event!
— NBA (@NBA) June 6, 2024
Congrats, Doris 👏 pic.twitter.com/D4H08lsdBW
Last August, it was announced that Burke would be on ESPN's leading NBA broadcast team alongside Breen and Doc Rivers. When Rivers left in the middle of the season to take over as the Milwaukee Bucks head coach, Redick replaced him on the leading team.
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Burke's broadcasting career began back in 1990 as an analyst at her alma mater Providence College. Burke started working at ESPN in 1991 and has worked in a variety of roles across the NBA, WNBA, and NCAA in both television and radio.
In 2013, she became a commentator at ESPN, and in 2017, she became a regular NBA game analyst. In 2020, she became the first woman to ever call the Conference Finals and NBA Finals on the radio.
Now, she's making more history, as the first woman television analyst for the Conference Finals and NBA Finals, and the first woman in men's professional sports history to cover a championship game as a television analyst.
Burke has been making history throughout her career, trailblazing a path for more women to get into sports as a broadcaster, analyst, commentator, or sideline reporter.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Noah Camras graduated from USC in 2022 with a B.A. in Journalism and minor in Sports Media Studies. He's worked ... Read more
