The Bulls are planning to use a rotation of analysts to replace legendary color commentator Stacey King on CHSN telecasts this season, Front Office Sports has learned.
King—who won three championships with the franchise in the early 1990s, and called games for the last 19 seasons—died at 59 earlier this year after suffering a fall in his suburban Chicago home.
Robbie Hummel is one of the people being considered for the rotation, sources said. Hummel, the former Purdue standout, is an excellent college basketball color commentator and has previously filled in on Bulls games. The analysts comprising the rotation are expected to be familiar faces to Bulls fans, according to sources.
A Bulls spokesperson declined to comment.
The Chicago Sun-Times previously reported that Hummel and the Bulls had mutual interest, but that he would likely be unable to take the job on a full-time basis given his national commitments.
Going with an analyst rotation this season to work alongside play-by-play broadcaster Adam Amin makes sense for the Bulls for a number of reasons. First, King was such a bombastic fan favorite that anybody who succeeds him would have an uphill climb. Trying several different analysts alongside Amin—as well as working with the people who fill in for him while he’s working national NFL or MLB dates for Fox—gives the Bulls’ decision-makers the chance to gauge the best fit.
Finally, the pay scale for announcers on regional sports networks has reset in recent years as the cable and satellite bundle has dwindled in subscriber numbers. Concurrently, recent NBA players have made a fortune. In a past era, someone like Joakim Noah, beloved by Bulls fans and dabbling in podcasting, would have seemed from the outside a potential natural successor to King. But he made about $142 million as a player. While a cohort of NBA players would tell us we don’t realize that’s only about $70 million after taxes, getting someone who’s earned that much to work 70+ dates at current market rates isn’t feasible.
