Blazers decide on their replacement for Braiden Bell after firing saga

The Portland Trail Blazers have officially anointed their replacement for the fired Braiden Bell.

Portland is hiring Travis Demers to serve as their new television play-by-play broadcaster for next season, according to a report Wednesday by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Demers is a familiar voice to Blazers fans as he has already been the radio voice of the team for the last seven seasons.

The move by Portland comes after the ugly saga involving Bell. At the start of the month, the Blazers named Bell, a former broadcaster for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the NBA G League’s Valley Suns, as their new TV play-by-play man.

But Bell ended up being fired by the Blazers less than 24 hours after they hired him upon a KGW reporter digging up some old social media posts in which Bell (who was then a teenager) used racist and misogynistic language. Bell would later issue a public apology for the posts.

But in more recent days, Bell has seemingly turned defiant. He reportedly hired counsel in a bid to have the Blazers reinstate him and also issued a public plea to the NBA calling for a “fairer approach” when it comes to hirings.

Ultimately though, Portland is moving forward with the familiar Demers and shifting him into the television booth for the 2026-27 NBA season (and possibly beyond). Demers is now the official replacement for former Blazers TV announcer Kevin Calabro, one of several prominent names who left Portland amid widespread budget cuts by new owner Tom Dundon.