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JJ Redick Overjoyed to Officially Join ESPN’s Top NBA Broadcast Team

Also in Traina Thoughts, a brand-new “SI Media With Jimmy Traina”; don’t bother Bo Jackson; EA Sports “College Football” return date and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. ESPN officially announced on Thursday that JJ Redick would replace Doc Rivers on the network's lead NBA broadcast team.

After mysteriously firing Jeff Van Gundy, and subsequently, Mark Jackson, ESPN hired Rivers and elevated Doris Burke to join Mike Breen on the A crew. However, Rivers didn’t even last half-a-season before going back into coaching. That opened up the spot for Redick, who had been working with Ryan Ruocco and Richard Jefferson this season.

The Breen-Burke-Redick crew will make its debut on Saturday, Feb. 24, calling Boston Celtics-New York Knicks game on ABC.

It was clear, at least to me, that Redick would eventually get the lead analyst role, as I told Bill Simmons last October on SI Media With Jimmy Traina.

Redick addressed the promotion on Thursday with a very heartfelt and genuine message. 

“What an honor,” Redick said. “I’m so grateful. I’m honored for a number of reasons. The two that stick out for me is when you call a game, when you commentate on the NBA, you are part of the documentation of NBA history and I take that role and responsibility very seriously. The fact that I get to document this year’s NBA Finals, I’m thrilled.

“Second reason I’m so honored is that Mike and Doris are GOATS. These are Hall of Famers. These are two people I’ve known for 15 to 20 years, each of them. Getting to work alongside two people I admire so much is just an honor.”

2. A brand-new episode of SI Media with Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it’s  an all-Traina Thoughts, post-Super Bowl edition with Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY.

Topics discussed include Tony Romo’s performance calling the Big Game, the massive confusion about the overtime rules, the halftime show, whether the game should start earlier in the day, the awful injury suffered by the San Francisco 49ers’ Dre Greenlaw and whether Kyle Shanahan made the right move by taking the ball in overtime.

Other topics include CBS’s outstanding special, You Are Looking Live, on the history of the NFL Today pregame show; whether betting on a game changes the way you watch sports; the latest episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm; the post-NFL season blues; the best type of pretzel and much more

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel.

3. CBS announced that this year’s Masters Tournament will be the last one for the legendary Verne Lundquist. The 83-year-old Lundquist retired from calling college football in 2016 and college basketball in 2018.

4. EA Sports released a teaser for College Football 25, which will come out this summer. This has video game fans very excited since the last version of the game came out way back in 2014.

5. Auburn great Bo Jackson was so locked into his alma mater's basketball game on Wednesday that he was in no mood for selfies.

6. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: In honor of the news that Lundquist is set to call his final Masters.

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Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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