ESPN Makes Changes To Top Broadcast Team, Demotes Burke

ESPN is playing musical chairs again.

In what has become a recurring theme over the last few years for the network, ESPN is changing up its top broadcast team for the 2025-26 season, including the NBA Finals on ABC.

Doris Burke, who has been a part of the Finals coverage since 2009 as both a sideline reporter and TV analyst, will no longer be with the premier team. Despite receiving a contract extension from ESPN and being assigned to cover “high-profile games” in 2025-26, she will now anchor the No. 2 team.

To counter the move, the network is promoting Tim Legler to replace Burke and work alongside Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, and sideline reporter Lisa Salters. Legler has been with ESPN since 2000, working as both a studio and TV analyst. 

The moves are no surprise given ESPN’s recent history with juggling broadcast teams. From 2007 to 2022, Breen worked consistently alongside Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. But after the network parted ways with Van Gundy and Jackson, Breen has been thrown with a number of different partners, including Burke, J.J. Redick, and Doc Rivers.

For Burke, it is undoubtedly a setback. She is seen as a ground-breaking figure for females in broadcasting. Among her many achievements, she became the first woman to stand in as a television analyst for any major men’s championship event. She first joined ESPN in 2000 and has been a part of the Finals coverage in some capacity every year since 2009.