Why Timberwolves Fans Should be Excited About New TV Broadcast Crew

The past few seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves have had one of the best local broadcasts in the NBA. The combination of Michael Grady on play-by-play with longtime color analyst Jim Petersen brought a high level of energy and chemistry as the team grew into prominence as a contender in the Western Conference.

As Grady's national TV commitments with both NBC Sports and Amazon Prime continue to grow, the Wolves found themselves in need of a new primary play-by-play TV announcer as the broadcast moves to the live sports streaming platform DAZN.

On Friday morning, the Wolves announced their new-look broadcast team, which featured the additions of longtime broadcasters Kevin Calabro and Jon Sciambi as the team's new play-by-play announcers.

READY FOR THE SEASON 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/6GrUaOOVwJ
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) September 25, 2026

Calabro and Sciambi's extensive histories on TV

Calabro comes to Minnesota after nine seasons as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Portland Trail Blazers. Before that, Calabro was the longtime TV voice for the Seattle Supersonics from 1987 to 2008, prior to the team moving to Oklahoma City.

Sciambi also arrives with the Wolves with an extensive history of calling games. Sciambi is currently the play-by-play TV announcer for the Chicago Cubs, the radio announcer for MLB postseason and World Series games on ESPN Radio, and is the lead voice for ESPN's coverage of Big 12 men's basketball games.

There will be 67 Wolves games broadcast by DAZN with Calabro serving as the play-by-play voice a majority of the time with Sciambi calling about 20 Wolves games this season as reported by Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune.

Grady will now primarily be calling games nationally for NBC and Amazon, but will still call a select number of Timberwolves games, including the team's first regular-season game broadcast by DAZN on October 23, against the Orlando Magic.

Fan favorite Jim Petersen will remain the team's color analyst for all 67 games broadcast by DAZN. The University of Minnesota graduate and St. Louis Park, Minnesota, native has been broadcasting Timberwolves games on TV and radio since 1998.

The additions of Calabro and Sciambi also allow Alan Horton to return to the radio broadcast full time, where he has been the Wolves' play-by-play voice for nearly 20 years.

Why Timberwolves fans should be excited about the new-look TV broadcast team

Timberwolves fans are almost certainly going to become enamored with Calabro the same way they did with Grady back in 2022. Calabro was beloved by fans in both Seattle and Portland, bringing a mix of excitement and professionalism to the broadcast.

Trail Blazers' fans are particularly heartbroken about the departure of Calabro from their broadcast after their new owner, Tom Dundon, who has been cutting costs left and right, offered Calabro an offer he described to the Oregonian as "subprime."

Sciambi himself is one of the more recognizable names in MLB broadcasting. He is the play-by-play voice for the ever-popular Cubs, has worked multiple World Series, and is even the lead voice for the MLB The Show video game.

Sciambi is possibly over-qualified for the part-time role the Timberwolves have to offer, but given his roles covering MLB's World Series and college basketball in the spring, Wolves fans get to enjoy one of the best broadcasters in the country.

Calabro and Sciambi joining the Timberwolves TV broadcast continues a pattern from Wolves ownership of taking big swings and hiring the best people available for a job. It began with Tim Connelly, whom the Wolves poached away from the Denver Nuggets with a lucrative contract.

Next, it was Grady who was brought in by the Timberwolves instead of re-hiring longtime TV announcer Dave Benz. While there was some disappointment at the time that Benz was let go, that faded as Grady grew into one of the best announcers in the country.

Then, the Wolves hired Matthew Caldwell away from the Florida Panthers to be the team's CEO. Caldwell successfully built the Panthers' business side from a relatively unknown NHL franchise into one of the league's larger brands as the team won back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships.

Even after the transition from Marc Lore to Marc Stad as majority owner, the Wolves have again hired heavy-hitters who provide credibility to their franchise. Calabro and Sciambi are two of the most experienced broadcasters in the business and are set to keep the Wolves among the best local broadcasts in the NBA.

Ultimately, sports fans don't really care about who the owners of the team are or how much money they do or don't make. They care about how many games the team will win and how much enjoyment they can get out of it.

To that extent, it is an incredible time to be a Timberwolves fan. After nearly two decades of bad basketball, the Wolves have emerged as one of the best teams and organizations as a whole. They have one of the most talented teams in the NBA and a new broadcast team that will make watching every game enjoyable.

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