ESPN’s Doris Burke on Camaraderie With Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson

With the NBA play-in tournament tipping off Wednesday night and the playoffs starting Saturday, ESPN NBA color commentator Doris Burke joined Front Office Sports for a candid conversation about what it’s like to be on ESPN’s top announcing team, why she left social media, and her thoughts on the upcoming postseason. 

This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.

Front Office Sports: With Richard Jefferson joining the top NBA booth, he’s now the third analyst in two years on your team after Doc Rivers and JJ Redick left for coaching jobs. How would you compare and contrast the three?

Doris Burke: I’d say where Doc is concerned, we did so few games together that I don’t know I’m in a position to analyze him. What I’d say about Doc is one of my favorite things in the brief time we shared together was his energy and the incredible storytelling he did. 

I think RJ and JJ are similar in maybe the two most important ways. First and foremost, they are both so passionate about this league. Both experienced long careers and played a variety of different roles on different teams. That experience is the first thing that bubbles up. But their passion for the NBA is exactly the same. 

They are both also incredible teammates. In a three-person booth, you don’t have the space to probably make every point you hope to make. Three people have to do their job, and the broadcast has to breathe a little bit. So, you have to be able to dial back and try to just get to the things you believe are most important. But I love, love, love working with both—and Doc—because of their passion and teammate skills.

What I find so fascinating about Richard is he has, more so than JJ and I, this very natural understanding that TV broadcasting is an entertainment medium. I don’t even know how to describe why I think that. I can tell you one moment in particular that drives the point home for me: We were coming out of a halftime break and Mike does the usual of bringing us back with a scene, and then the camera comes, and Richard just winks at the camera!

Mike Breen being Mike Breen, picks it up immediately, and you can hear the laugh in his voice when he asks, “Why are you winking in the camera?” So I don’t know, there’s just this very innate ability that Richard has, whether it’s the inflection in his voice, mannerism—he is a more natural broadcaster than JJ and me. 

FOS: Mike Breen is an immaculate broadcaster. Do you marvel about that when you’re sitting next to him?

DB: We were in Dallas for what was a very big, emotional game [with the return of Luka Dončić]. Mike had to set the tone at the start of the telecast. All I know is we went to break, and I literally leaped out to him and said, “You are a blank-blank badass.” I got chills. He perfectly captured the moment. He spoke to the images and brought those to life. That guy is an absolute master of his craft.

There are just certain people you sit next to and you are better because you sit next to them, and Mike Breen is that guy.

FOS: When you started, it was much rarer for there to be women sports broadcasters, especially at the level where you are. It’s become significantly more common over the past couple of decades. Do any of the young women broadcasters today approach you and thank you for being a trailblazer?

DB: Yes, but I get a little uncomfortable with that, to be perfectly frank with you. 

I don’t want to take credit for being the beneficiary of exceptional timing, you know what I mean? By that I mean, like, when I entered broadcasting, coverage of women’s basketball was really starting to mushroom and go.

I always point to 1997 as an enormous inflection point in my career—the WNBA came into existence. I started announcing in 1990. The WNBA afforded me to become a full-time game analyst, like a Dick Vitale or a Bill Raftery. Between the college games I worked in the winter, I could work a 50-game schedule and have it be a full-time job. 

At that moment, the coverage of women’s sports was increasing. Over that 30-year period, there have been slow but certain cultural shifts as it relates to spaces where women are accepted.

But listen: The next generation of female broadcasters inspires me. These women come in with a confidence and presence at an age that’s just encouraging. They know they belong, they’re confident in their skill. So that’s exciting. 

So, I’m appreciative and quite often moved by the things young women say to me, but they give me far too much credit.  

FOS: Have you noticed at all having greater stature since joining ESPN’s top team last season?

DB: Something that Mike Breen made me aware of as soon as the decision was made is that he said, “There’s an enormous difference in the level of scrutiny between the top team and teams 2 and 3.” I’d say I feel that for sure. 

The intensity of the game, the types of games that you’re getting, you definitely notice a higher level. There’s no doubt about that. 

FOS: You haven’t posted on X/Twitter or Instagram in years. Did you consciously decide to step away from social media?

DB: Yes. I decided last year before the start of the year to shut down my X account. And I have Instagram mostly for my grandchildren and some of the recipes I get. [Laughs.]

But yes, it was absolutely a conscious decision to step away. First and foremost, like most people, I would just find that I would scroll for a duration of time that I was uncomfortable with, and be thinking to myself, “Really, that time could’ve been used far more productively.”

But also because I’m a firm believer that social media is not necessarily real. The good or the bad that may come at you is not real. It wasn’t something I wanted to invest time in.

FOS: Switching gears to basketball, what most intrigues you about the matchups in the play-in tournament this year?

DB: After watching Warriors-Clippers play what to me was one of the best games of the season on Sunday, I’m intrigued by how quickly Golden State now has to respond.

Bob Myers, Dave Pasch, and Katie George touched on issues with Steph Curry’s thumb. Both coaches before the game talked about how they would’ve liked the time off.

Golden State has the luxury of basically having three home games, including Sunday’s, to get into the playoffs. But I think they have to respond quickly, and I’m really curious to see how they do that against a team in Memphis that I believe is dangerous because they have Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, both of whom can go off for 30 to 40 in a night and carry a team.

I’ll talk about Chicago and Miami. When I look at the Heat, and know that all year the Jimmy Butler saga hung over that basketball team, the idea that they could hang tough through a season that had so many twists and turns in it to give themselves an opportunity is pretty tough. I know people get tired of the Heat Culture talk, and that’s fine, but that to me is representative of that. 

And Chicago has just really been a fun team to watch at times this year. I love the broadcast team of Stacey King and Adam Amin. I mean, Stacey adds such flavor. But what struck me about the telecast this season of those two guys, down the stretch they just believed something about this group—their willingness to fight, compete, adjust—I was watching a comeback one night and Stacey is going BANG BANG BANG. Three bangs! 

FOS: Can you believe what LeBron James is doing at 40 years old?

DB: Absolutely no. I mean, seriously, I think if I try to capture the essence of what he’s done in his 22nd season, I’m looking directly to his fourth-quarter numbers.

That is a tribute to the sustained commitment he makes on a virtually everyday basis to caring for his body and getting prepared physically and mentally to play the game.

This guy is one of the most productive players in the fourth quarter and overtime. That to me speaks to, does he have to conserve energy and manage the game and manage the season? He sure does, but that’s what 22 years of experience will help you to do. 

Here’s the challenge: What the Lakers do on the defensive end requires a significant amount of effort and a high level of communication. He has brought that. JJ has referenced it, when they’ve been poor defensively, they miss LeBron’s voice. 

FOS: What was more stunning to you, the Luka Dončić trade or Michael Malone getting fired right before the playoffs?

DB: The Luka Dončić trade, unequivocally. This guy was five straight first-team All-NBA. He fully expected to be in Dallas for the duration of his career. That level of star doesn’t typically get traded. I was so far and away stunned by that trade.