ESPN announced former Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers and former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers will be part of its NBA coverage for the 2023-24 season.
Rivers will work on the broadcast table alongside Doris Burke and Mike Breen as ESPN's lead commentary team. Myers will appear in-studio on select editions of NBA Countdown and contribute to coverage of ESPN's weekend games on ABC.
ESPN has laid off a number of notable television personalities this summer amid wider cost-cutting moves by parent company Disney. The layoffs significantly affected its NBA coverage, with Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Jalen Rose all gone.
The New York Post's Andrew Marchand first reported on July 31 that ESPN was targeting Rivers and intended to elevate Burke.
Rivers was a natural fit for the team. Beyond the gravitas he carries from his playing and coaching days, the 61-year-old briefly worked as a broadcast between his spells with the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics.
In the case of Myers, this will be his first foray into television.
The two-time Executive of the Year stepped down from his duties with the Warriors after having spent more than a decade in their front office.
Early on, it looked like Myers might jump right back into a different organization. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in May "he's expected to become one of the most pursued executives in modern North American professional sports history" should he decide to accept another front-office gig.
Working for ESPN will obviously put the 48-year-old in a much less high-stress environment than he had toward the end of his time in Golden State. The challenge of maintaining the Warriors' dynasty became more and more difficult as Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson got older.
Myers' new role will keep him close to the goings-on in the NBA and presumably provide him with the flexibility to return in an executive capacity if that intrigues him down the road.
