ESPN Considering Drastic Decision on Doris Burke

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Jun 4, 2025 10:05 PM ET

It's been three decades since Doris Burke first got her big break as an analyst, breaking gender barriers as a woman dissecting men's games. As legend has it, a Big East game of the week broadcast was thrown into chaos just before it was to begin when the male analyst scheduled to call the game failed to show, and officials at Providence--Burke's alma mater--in a panic, reached out to her.

Burke had been in the booth for the women's team. But she filled in admirably on the men's broadcast, and in that moment, began on a path that would change the role of women in sports broadcasting.

As Burke once said, "I knew both teams. With zero preparation and 45 minutes notice, I pulled that game off and the next thing you knew, I started to get a bit of men's work. Honestly, it's been 25 to 28 years of just slow, methodical, taking step-by step progress. I've been very lucky."

She has been lucky enough to land in the ESPN booth for this year's NBA Finals, alongside play-by-play man Mike Breen and former player Richard Jefferson. But in truth, it is as trio that has never really formed a chemistry and on Wednesday, just a day before Game 1 of the series, a report from The Athletic notes that Burke's first Finals as an analyst is likely her last.

The site's Andrew Marchand wrote, "Burke’s spot is not guaranteed for next season, according to sources familiar with ESPN’s preliminary plans. While Breen, the Basketball Hall of Famer under a long-term deal, is not going anywhere, ESPN will evaluate its entire roster.

"ESPN executives will debate what is next, according to sources, with one discussion likely centering around if they feel Burke is better on a two-person team as opposed to the three-person team."

That would take Burke, who is a Hall of Famer, too, off of ESPN's top broadcast bunch and throw her future into question. That does not mean that she is sure to be axed from the network, only demoted.

Marchand wrote: "(Burke) was handed nothing, coming from obscurity, first working New York Liberty games on MSG Network before her rise through the ESPN ranks. She was sharp and informative. But in the three-person booth the last two years, she hasn’t seemed to mesh as well with Breen. He doesn’t outright ignore what she says, but they rarely build on each other’s comments."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: