Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy, two longtime mainstays of ESPN’s broadcast team for NBA Finals games, will miss the championship series opener between Golden State and the Boston Celtics. An ESPN spokesperson said both broadcasters had tested positive for coronavirus in recent days, but Van Gundy said in an interview that was not the case.
The NBA Finals kicks off Thursday in San Francisco and would be the 14th championship series featuring Breen in game-by-game action alongside Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, two former NBA coaches. Instead, the show will be called by Jackson and Mark Jones, with Lisa Salters as a supporting reporter.
Breen missed Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday after testing positive for the virus. Van Gundy and Jackson, who had called matches with Breen the previous week, continued the match, with Jones replacing Breen.
Van Gundy said in an interview on Thursday that he was not tested for the virus ahead of Sunday’s game because he was asymptomatic, although his voice was noticeably hoarse during the show. The NBA has not instituted a testing mandate for members of television and news media for this year’s playoffs, as it did last season.
Van Gundy said when he returned home to Houston on Monday, he began experiencing mild symptoms. The next day he took an at-home test, which he said was inconclusive. ESPN then sent Van Gundy two more rapid tests, which he said came back negative. Van Gundy also said he didn’t know why he was taken off the Game 1 broadcast and hoped to be back for Game 2.
Van Gundy added that he no longer had symptoms.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Kendra Andrews, reporters who frequently appear on air for ESPN, have also tested positive for coronavirus and will miss the series opener. Andrews is a beat writer covering Golden State, and Wojnarowski is the network’s top NBA reporter.
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