Mike Breen: ESPN laying off co-commentators Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson 'was a surprise'
A new era is coming to NBA broadcasting after ESPN laid off Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson this summer.
Along with Mike Breen, the trio has called 15 NBA Finals — Breen and Van Gundy have reported on 17 championships together. Breen, the last one left on ESPN's broadcasting roster, spoke to the New York Post for a story published Wednesday about how the break-up shook him.
“It’s sad because we really thought we had something special and … we were able to do it a lot longer than anybody ever did,” he said. “It’s something we’ll all treasure, but we just wish it was a little bit longer.
“You don’t expect it, because it was such a great team and to have it completely broken up was a surprise.”
Doris Burke is expected to get the call-up as one of the replacements and former NBA coach Doc Rivers will join the company, according to reports, to revive his broadcasting skills after calling the 2004 Finals.
Breen, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021, first met Van Gundy and Jackson in the 1990s when they were all associated with the New York Knicks. Breen was the team's main radio commentator while Van Gundy was an assistant coach and Jackson was the point guard. Breen said the bond they share is deeper than basketball.
“They were the dream partners,” he said. “All the accomplishments were because of what we did together. I really do feel personally any success I had was because I had those two guys next to me. ...
"We’re going to be friends until the day we die. Those guys taught me so much about what I know about the NBA. I’ve learned more from those two than anybody. But they’ve also taught me about stuff that has nothing to do with basketball. I look up to both of them because not just their talents as broadcasters, but the kind of men they are. I just feel so privileged to have that time."
He noted that calling this last season's NBA Finals, where the Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat for their first championship in franchise history, is a special memory he will carry with him.
"We came off a Finals that we were so proud of," he said. "It was another Finals together and it was really a great story of Denver winning for the first time and we were on a high after it was all done so to come to grips with that was our final telecast is hard."
Breen said that the way his coworkers handled their layoffs has reiterated their character. Jackson posted on social media after learning he lost his job, saying he was "shocked and dismayed," adding it was "an honor to sit besides two LEGENDS in the business" and wishing "greater measures of success" to his successors. Breen said he has spoken to Van Gundy in the aftermath of the layoffs.
"I’m amazed at how well they deal with these things and it’s one of the reasons why I’ve always looked up to them and how they handle stuff," he said. "It wasn’t a surprise to me how they handled it with such grace."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mike Breen speaks on ESPN layoffs of Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson
