Mark Vernon Jones is a Canadian
sportscaster for
ABC and
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and the primary play-by-play announcer for
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...
games on
NBC Sports California. Jones has been a member of the ESPN broadcasting family since 1990. Before then Jones worked for
The Sports Network
The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...
(TSN) in Canada. He mostly works
college football and
NBA games on ABC and ESPN.
Biography
Mark Jones was born on November 16, 1961.
Basketball career
Jones attended
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...
and played basketball. He led the team to three
Ontario Universities Athletics Association (OUAA) championships in 1981, 1984 and 1985. During his career, Jones was one of the top players in the OUAA, earning conference second-team all-star honors in 1984 and 1985. In 1986, he finished his career with a first-team all-star nod. A prolific guard for the Yeomen, Jones still ranks in the program's top five all-time in total assists and steals. He was inducted into the York's Sport Hall of Fame in 2016.
Broadcasting career
Before Jones assumed his current roles at ESPN, he worked for The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada from 1986 to 1990 as an anchor and hosted a Toronto Blue Jays magazine show.
Jones began his ESPN career as the host of the weekly NBA show, the ''
NBA Today''. He would usually end the show by shooting an imaginary basketball into the air as the studio lights went off. Jones currently does
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
on NBA games paired with any one of ESPN's current NBA game analysts like
Jon Barry
Jon Alan Barry (born July 25, 1969) is an American former basketball player and current television analyst for ABC and ESPN.
Biography
Barry is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry and Pam Connolly, and has three brothers: Scooter, Brent, a ...
,
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American retired basketball coach and player and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naism ...
,
P.J. Carlesimo,
Mark Jackson,
Jeff Van Gundy
Jeffrey William Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is an American commentator for ESPN and former basketball coach. He served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his t ...
, and
Doris Burke
Doris Burke ( Sable) is an American sports announcer and analyst for NBA on ESPN, NBA on ABC, College Basketball on ESPN, and College Basketball on ABC games. She formerly worked as an analyst for WNBA games on MSG, and has worked on New Yor ...
. Jones has worked NBA games in the past with
Bill Walton
William Theodore Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is an American television sportscaster and former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for coach John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins, winning three consecutive national ...
until Walton left NBA coverage during the 2009 - 2010 season and also with
Doug Collins. He was the primary host of ''KIA NBA Shootaround'', the network's pregame show. On the program he engaged Walton and
Stephen A. Smith
Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...
in topical debates about issues in the NBA. Jones has done some sideline reporting for NBA games.
Jones also is lead play by play announcer on ABC's NBA Sunday Showcase with Hall of Famer Hubie Brown. He also is on ESPN's
college football, where he teams up with analysts
Dusty Dvoracek
Dusty Dvoracek (born March 3, 1983) is a former American football nose guard. Drafted by the Chicago Bears of the National Football League in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft, he played college football at Oklahoma and professionally wit ...
and
Rod Gilmore
Rodney Curt Gilmore (born January 31, 1960) is an American college football analyst, working for ABC and ESPN since 1996.
Prior to joining ABC and ESPN in 1996, Gilmore worked for Pacific Sports Network, SportsChannel Bay Area and Prime Spor ...
on the network's coverage on ESPN,
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
or ABC. He formally called men's SEC college basketball games on Saturday with analyst
Kara Lawson. He has also done play-by-play and/or reporting for women's
college basketball
In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
, the
WNBA, and the
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
.
Jones has also occasionally served as an anchor/reporter for
SportsCenter. He has contributed to NBA All-Star Weekend (Celebrity Game), NBA Draft Lottery, and also to the network's NBA Draft coverage.
He is the younger brother of
Paul Jones, the radio play-by-play voice of the
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...
.
In September 2020, Jones made headlines with his outspoken support for the
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...
movement on Twitter.
Jones was named the primary TV play-by-play announcer for the
Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...
in 2020.
On March 11, 2022, ESPN announced a multi-year extension for Jones.
On May 29, 2022, Jones filled in for ESPN's lead NBA play–by–play announcer
Mike Breen
Michael Breen (born May 22, 1961) is an American play-by-play sports commentator for '' NBA on ABC'' and is the lead announcer for New York Knicks games on the MSG Network. Breen also calls NBA games for ESPN and was formerly a play-by-play anno ...
for the deciding Eastern Conference Final Game 7 between the
Boston Celtics and
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...
. Breen had to sit out of the broadcast alongside commentators
Jeff Van Gundy
Jeffrey William Van Gundy (born January 19, 1962) is an American commentator for ESPN and former basketball coach. He served as head coach of the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). During his t ...
and
Mark Jackson due to a positive
COVID
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
test.
Jones also called the first two games of the NBA Finals featuring the Celtics and
Golden State Warriors in Breen's absence.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Mark
Living people
Arena football announcers
Basketball players from Toronto
Black Canadian basketball players
Black Canadian broadcasters
Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States
Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Canadian television sportscasters
College basketball announcers in the United States
College football announcers
Canadian people of Jamaican descent
Disney people
ESPN people
Miami Heat announcers
National Basketball Association broadcasters
National Hockey League broadcasters
NBA G League broadcasters
Sacramento Kings announcers
Women's college basketball announcers in the United States
Women's National Basketball Association announcers
York Lions players
1987 births