Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson became familiar faces and voices to some of the most iconic moments during the NBA Finals on ESPN.
However, things will be different for the network’s broadcast next year. ESPN laid off Van Gundy in late June after the trio called its 15th NBA Finals as part of the network’s financial cuts.
Then, on Monday, Jackson and the network parted ways after 17 years. Breen recently told the New York Post that he was completely shocked by the network’s decision to lay off his broadcast partners.
“It’s sad because we [Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson] really thought we had something special and … we were able to do it a lot longer than anybody ever did,” Breen said, per the Post. “… You don’t expect it, because it was such a great team and to have it completely broken up was a surprise.”
With the departures of Van Gundy and Jackson, the Post reported that ESPN is seeking to add veteran broadcaster Doris Burke and former NBA coach Doc Rivers—who was fired as the 76ers’ head coach this offseason—to join Breen as the network’s main broadcast crew.
While Breen will work with a pair of new faces in the next NBA season, he considered Jackson and Van Gundy his “dream partners” and credited “any success” he witnessed to them.
“Those guys taught me so much about what I know about the NBA,” Breen said. “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. … We’re going to be friends until the day we die.”
