It’s another year of ESPN broadcasting the NBA Finals, and another year of disappointment for NBA fans.
There have been certain bones that basketball fans have had to pick with ESPN over the 20 years plus that they have been broadcasting the NBA Finals. Most of those have dealt with the revolving door studio show over the years and a deluge of ads.
But this year, everything feels off. And the entire presentation of the NBA Finals makes it feel like a Friday night in January.
Let’s start with the broadcast booth that we all know has been thrown together on the fly thanks to the layoffs of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson have never truly replaced. Mike Breen, Doris Burke, and Richard Jefferson are all great on their own merit, but they are admittedly a brand new team still trying to figure it out. And the fact that it leaked that ESPN is considering replacing Burke for next season before the series even began tells you all you need to know about how much of a disconnect exists.
The studio and halftime show is the same thing it’s always been. Game 1 of the Thunder-Pacers series greatly expanded what the set was able to do last year by giving the studio crew a whopping three minutes. However, most of that was filled with Stephen A. Smith yelling about Tyrese Haliburton. Don’t worry though, there was still tons and tons of commercials.
For reference, this one segment had more total analysis than the entire Game 1 halftime show had in 2024. https://t.co/VDtnjr0t4B pic.twitter.com/3R49WKymLi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 6, 2025
But most troubling of all is the total lack of aesthetics and big-game feel. Gone is the Larry O’Brien trophy on the court. Gone is the national anthem. Gone is the starting intros. Gone is pretty much anything and everything that would make you believe this is the NBA FINALS save for a small miniature logo at the bottom of the screen.
If the NBA is wondering why fans aren’t excited about the Thunder-Pacers matchup, it’s not the size of the markets involved. Look no further than what the league and its leading broadcast partner are communicating about the importance of the series.
Everything about this NBA Finals presentation looks like a regular season game.
Starting lineups on a quick graphic. No trophy or FINALS on the court. No patches on the jerseys. Just a tiny logo on the scorebug. It used to be better.
— Chris Vannini (@chrisvannini.com) June 5, 2025 at 9:04 PM
ESPN/ABC don’t even show starting lineups during the Finals. Can’t wait for @NBAonNBC to come back.
— Shawn Grant (@SHAWNxGRANT) June 6, 2025
ESPN has to be the most out of touch broadcast in all sports
this doesn’t feel like an NBA Finals game and it’s certainly not because of the two teams on the floor
— 🃏🇳🇬🏴 (@richknowsball) June 6, 2025
If ESPN/ABC didn’t put up a small NBA Finals graphic on the screen, you would think this was just a regular season game.
— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) June 6, 2025
I watched an unhealthy amount of NBA basketball this year and the League and ESPN did a horrible job making this feel like the Finals. The two Cavs-Thunder regular season matchups felt like it had significantly more hype. Its the little things like putting the Finals logo on the…
— Chef Curry (@jakebuuschh) June 6, 2025
It’s the NBA Finals and the NBA didn’t even show the National Anthem, Pre-Game intros, no logo on court or jerseys. These are little things but they’re so important for the experience.
— The Hood Therapist (@OhhMar24) June 6, 2025
Like half the reason why the Finals lacks aura over the years is ESPN’s presentation.
You can’t tell the Finals apart from a NBA Wednesday game in January https://t.co/Mh8eDGa6TH
— Phill (@MeekPhill_) June 6, 2025
This is the third year in a row that ESPN/ABC’s presentation has made the Finals feel like a Tuesday game in January
— 𝓜𝓪𝓽𝓽 ✈️ (@mldiffley) June 6, 2025
Put the Larry O’Brien back at center court and bring the cursive writing back too.
Make the finals look & feel like The Finals.
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) June 6, 2025
The most perplexing issue here is these are all simple fixes that have been done before. It’s not like we are asking ESPN to figure out how to broadcast the game from Mars or find a way to do a 7D telecast.
Show the anthem and the player intros. Allow us to be sucked into the incredible arena atmosphere in Oklahoma City. Put the Larry O’Brien trophy on the court instead of a bunch of CGI and YouTubeTV ads. Are basketball fans here to watch the NBA Finals or is it just an opportunity to hype the upcoming Fantastic 4 movie? Give your personalities some actual time to talk about the game.
Even the NBA Cup easily communicates that their regular season games are different with their crazy court designs. And yet for the NBA Finals we can’t have anything? Make it make sense!
ESPN’s NBA coverage during the season, especially in their studio shows, has left a lot to be desired in recent years. The network has a tendency to focus more on off-court drama and storylines than actual basketball. The Pacers probably got less time on ESPN airwaves than Stephen A. Smith’s feud with LeBron James this year. And the Thunder didn’t get much more than that in spite of building what may be the NBA’s next great dynasty.
But if ESPN is also struggling to make the NBA Finals feel like they matter during the NBA Finals itself, then we have even bigger problems.
