Tim Legler is calling his first NBA Finals alongside Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson, and he sits down with Front Office Sports in the middle of the series to talk about what these moments actually feel like, how he prepares for the biggest games of the year, and what is at the top of the whiteboard for the three-person booth when they sit down to call a game together.
The ESPN lead broadcast team has gone through real change, with new networks like Amazon and NBC now in the mix, and Legler coming in as the newest piece alongside one of the most iconic play-by-play voices in sports history. He also addresses the JJ Redick–to-coaching pipeline and whether coaching is something he has ever genuinely considered, and the answer involves interviews at La Salle, Duquesne, and South Florida that most people have never heard of.
Then there is the basketball. The Knicks are in the Finals for the first time in nearly 30 years, Victor Wembanyama had a quiet Game 1, and Legler breaks down exactly why that happened and what San Antonio needs to do differently in Game 2. And if the Knicks win it all at Madison Square Garden, there is a very specific and real question about how the broadcast crew will exit the building.