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During ESPN broadcasts of NBA games, both regular season and the playoffs, fans have gotten used to seeing Doris Burke as one of the network’s regular NBA commentators. However, it’s possible that following the NBA Finals season, Doris Burke’s role at ESPN might change. She does have at least one prominent voice behind her though in Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle.
During Rick Carlisle’s media availability session ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, he delivered a strong defense of Doris Burke and her ESPN coverage of the NBA.
“I saw the things that were linked yesterday about Doris Burke, and I just want to say a couple of things,” Carlisle said. “She has changed the game for women in broadcasting. I have a daughter who just turned 21. . .she’s not in the basketball industry, but Doris is a great example of courage and putting herself out there.”
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“It was just so sad to see these reports linked, really unnecessarily before such a celebrated event. Doris is a friend, I’ve asked her many times when is she getting into coaching, she has such great knowledge,” Carlisle said. “There are many women whom she’s paved the way for. . .I don’t know what’s gonna happen with all that stuff, but I just want to say thank you to Doris for the example that she has put forth for young women like my daughter. . .she has changed the game, and that’s why she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame a couple of years ago. I just want to say that in support of her.”
Doris Burke became part of one of ESPN’s prime broadcast groups this season alongside Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson. Burke and Jefferson replaced Breen’s longtime broadcast partners Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, both of whom were fired by ESPN following the end of the 2023-24 NBA season.
Burke first joined ESPN in 1991 and is still one of the most decorated players in Providence women’s basketball history. She held the program record for most assists at one point, and was the 1987 Co-Female Athlete of the Year.
