For the 17th consecutive year, ESPN will produce the NBA Finals 2019 on ABC, starting Thursday May 30th, at 9pm ET.
This year, the Golden State Warriors – led by Stephen Curry – return to the NBA Finals for the fifth straight season as they square off with the Toronto Raptors and Kawhi Leonard. NBA Countdown precedes coverage for weeknight games at 8:30 p.m. on ABC. The NBA Finals and all of ESPN’s on-site programming will also be available on the ESPN App.
ESPN’s record-setting NBA Finals broadcast team of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson and Doris Burke return to call this year’s event.
ESPN NBA officiating analyst Steve Javie will also contribute to the game coverage from the NBA Replay Center. It marks Javie’s seventh NBA Finals. Additionally, for the 12th time, ESPN senior coordinating producer Tim Corrigan and director Jimmy Moore will lead NBA Finals production for ABC.
ESPN Radio coverage and Hubie Brown’s 18th NBA Finals
Hubie Brown will call his 18th NBA Finals as a game analyst (his 14th on radio, plus four on television). He’ll describe the action alongside play-by-play voice Marc Kestecher and reporter Ramona Shelburne. 2019 marks the 24th year that ESPN Radio has served as the national radio broadcast home of the NBA Finals. Additionally, Kevin Winter and analyst Jon Barry will host ESPN Radio’s NBA pre-game and post-game coverage. The audio from ESPN Radio’s NBA Finals coverage is available on the ESPN App.
In addition to the game broadcasts, ESPN will have its largest presence yet at the NBA Finals this year with more shows and personnel on site than ever before. NBA Countdown, The Jump, Hoop Streams, SportsCenter, First Take, The Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN Radio will all document the event from Toronto and Golden State.
NBA Countdown will once again serve as the pregame show for the NBA Finals on ABC, 30 minutes prior to tip off. Michelle Beadle, in her third year as NBA Countdown host at the NBA Finals, will lead the team, including veteran analyst and Fab Five member Jalen Rose, and NBA Finals M.V.P.s Paul Pierce and Chauncey Billups.
The Jump, ESPN’s daily NBA show, will continue to air weekdays from 3-4 p.m. and will be open to the public while on location at the NBA Finals. Rachel Nichols hosts The Jump with a cast of high profile analysts and reporters. The show will be live from Maple Leaf Square (Jurassic Park) outside ScotiaBank Arena for Raptors home games and Lake Chalet in Oakland when the series shifts to the west coast.
In addition to the afternoon show, ESPN recently announced that it has added prime-time episodes of The Jump to game nights from 8-8:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Hoop Streams – ESPN’s innovative, new NBA Twitter pre-game show – will also be on site for live, courtside shows during the NBA Finals, generally starting an hour before tipoff. Cassidy Hubbarth hosts Hoop Streams with special guests, including Kendrick Perkins, Gary Striewski and more.
SportsCenter will once again travel for on-site shows throughout the NBA Finals. Sage Steele will host the 6 p.m. edition of the show from location with several guest commentators. Several of ESPN’s top NBA analysts and reporters will appear on all episodes of SportsCenter during the event. More information on SportsCenter’s on-site presence at the NBA Finals will be announced this week.