ESPN’s Hubie Brown, 91, to Call One Last NBA Game Before Retiring

ESPN president Burke Magnus reveals this will be Brown’s last season as an analyst.
Brown has been with ESPN since 2004.
Brown has been with ESPN since 2004. / Justin Ford-Imagn Images

Hubie Brown has been in professional basketball since 1958. Since 2004, he has been calling NBA games for ESPN. Brown’s long, illustrious career will come to an end some time this season, ESPN president Burke Magnus revealed on this week’s SI Media With Jimmy Traina podcast.

“We are going to give Hubie one last shot on a game,” Magnus said on the podcast. “He deserves that. We think the world of him. I think it’s absolutely remarkable the level he still calls games at at age 90-plus.”

Magnus didn’t reveal when Brown, 91, would call his last game for ESPN, but a celebration for his final appearance behind a mic is in the works.

“I don’t mean to be purposely mysterious here, but we’re going to honor Hubie this year during the regular season at some point to be determined and send him off in style,” Magnus revealed. “I don’t think there’s a single human being who’s ever had a longer association with professional basketball.”

Brown has not called a game this season due to a string of personal tragedies. Brown’s son, Brendan, who was an assistant coach with the Grizzlies and broadcaster for the Knicks, passed away two weeks ago, at 54. Brown also lost his wife, Clair, in June of this year.


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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.