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Doris Burke to join ESPN’s NBA Finals broadcast team, to become first woman to call a U.S. men’s championship

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James Foglio
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James Foglio Sports Editor

James is a Basketball Insiders contributor. He earned his bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. James enjoys watching sports and helping gamblers win money.

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Sports Editor

Updated01 Aug 2023

Doris Burke to join ESPN's NBA Finals broadcast team, to become first woman to call a U.S. mens championship

Doris Burke is expected to be promoted to ESPN’s NBA Finals broadcast team, making her the first woman to ever call a major U.S. men’s championship on television. Burke, 58, works as an analyst for NBA on ESPN, NBA on ABC, College Basketball on ESPN, and College Basketball on ABC games.

She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG and has covered New York Knicks games in the past. Burke was the first female commentator to call a Knicks game on radio and television. Burke has worked for ESPN since 1991. She was the primary radio and television voice of the WNBA’s New York Liberty.


Doris Burke attended Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1984 to 1987. She competed as a point guard for the Providence Friars women’s basketball team for four years, averaging 12.1 points and 5.3 assists per game.

Additionally, Burke made 87 consecutive starts from 1984-87. In 1986 and 1987, she was twice named to both the All-Big East and Big East All-Tournament teams. During her senior year in 1987, Burke won Co-Female Athlete of the Year.

Doris Burke is expected to be promoted to ESPN’s NBA Finals broadcast team, to become first woman to call a U.S. men’s championship; Doc Rivers will replace Mark Jackson

While at Providence, she earned a bachelor’s degree in health service administration/social work and a master’s degree in education. After four years of basketball, she graduated as the Providence women’s all-time assists leader (602). In 1999, Burke was inducted into the Providence College Hall of Fame, becoming the fifth woman to be honored.

From 2009 to 2019, Burke served as a sideline reporter for the NBA Finals on ABC, and she worked as an analyst in regular season and playoff games until 2017. Interesting enough, Burke was featured as a sideline reporter in the NBA 2K11 video game in 2010. Since then, the New York native has appeared in every edition of the series.

In 2017, Burke was named an official NBA game analyst for ESPN, becoming the first woman at the national level to be assigned a full regular-season position. She went on to call Game 1 of the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN with Mark Jones. Burke became the first woman to call the conference finals and NBA Finals on radio.


Former Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers will reportedly replace Mark Jackson as well. Jackson, 58, was rumored to be relegated to the second team with Mark Jones, but the ex-Golden State Warriors coach has instead been fired by ESPN, according to sources.

Furthermore, Jackson had two years remaining on his contract, and he previously worked as a broadcast commentator for ABC and as an analyst for The YES Network’s New Jersey (Brooklyn) Nets.

Joining Jackson as part of ESPN’s extensive list of layoffs include longtime analyst Jeff Van Gundy. In addition to Burke, Rivers is now set to join play-by-player Mike Breen. Notwithstanding the network’s executives’ decision to move in a different direction, this particular change is receiving mixed feedback.

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