Amazon Prime Video has reached a deal to hire former NBA star Blake Griffin as an NBA analyst, reports Andrew Marchand of The Athletic.
Amazon isn’t one of the league’s broadcasting partners for the current season, but is one of three companies – along with Disney (ESPN/ABC) and NBC – that are part of the new media rights agreement, which will go into effect for the 2025/26 campaign.
Prime Video is slowly filling out its roster of color commentators, studio analysts, and play-by-play commentators, having also agreed to hire Ian Eagle as its lead play-by-play man and Hall of Famer Dirk Nowitzki as an analyst, as Marchand confirms. Reporting last month indicated that Taylor Rooks will be the lead host of Amazon’s NBA coverage.
Griffin, who announced his retirement as an NBA player last April, doesn’t have any NBA broadcasting experience, but multiple reports in recent months have stated he was among Amazon’s targets.
The former No. 1 overall pick compiled an impressive on-court résumé from 2010-23, including six All-Star berths, and has the sort of engaging personality that makes him a logical choice for broadcast work. He was known for his sense of humor off the court during his playing days, making cameos on multiple sitcoms and trying his hand at stand-up comedy.
According to Marchand, the current expectation is that Griffin and Nowitzki will both be part of Amazon’s studio coverage. The company still needs to add more play-by-play and color commentators and has spoken to Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade about a possible role as a game or studio analyst, Marchand reports.
Ian Eagle is the best play by play guy in any sport rivaled only by possibly boxing’s Mauro Ranallo. Id love to see Amazon add Gus Johnson, Wes Durham or both.
Ian and Harlan for me are the best I don’t feel annoyed from either in basketball or football.
You lost us all at Mauro Ranallo.
Few NBA fans watch Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling, although maybe some here saw Mauro call Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson fight last month. Truly the pinnacle of sports announcing.
Another multi-millionaire stealing a job from a media professional. Sick of this crap. Stop hiring millionaires for ANY job! Retire, you greedy sick freaks!!!
Maybe you should get off this site and go start the revolution comrade
If I see this guy dropping off packages at my house, I’m gonna lose it
Davey…media professionals. Like who? Nick Wright or Colin Cowherd. Pass. So called media professionals are nothing but puppets and dance monkeys.
And those guys make millions too so not sure what point that poster is making.
I’m sure it comes full circle to Steve Kerr or Steph.
As I said before…Davey J is constantly triggered.
The thing is, they’d hire my postman if it meant they could save some money. They know people will still tune in, even if the announcing stinks. Pretty soon we will just have AI announcers.