''NBA Wednesday'' is a weekly presentation of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

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 ...

. Debuting in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, ''NBA Wednesday'' starts the first Wednesday of the NBA season and runs throughout the entire regular season. Games typically air at 9:30 p.m. EST, following the network's presentation of ''

ACC Wednesday ''ESPN College Basketball'' is a blanket title used for presentations of college basketball on ESPN and its family of networks. Its coverage focuses primarily on competition in NCAA Division I, holding broadcast rights to games from each major c ...

'' college basketball. ''NBA Wednesday'' is occasionally preempted by ''ACC Wednesday'' or other

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 ...

doubleheaders.(otherwise it will air doubleheaders like NBA Friday at 7:30 and 10 pm et respectfully) ''NBA Wednesday'', like ''

NBA Friday ''NBA Friday'' is a weekly presentation of National Basketball Association games on ESPN. Formerly known as ''NBA Friday Coast to Coast'' during doubleheader nights, the program starts the first Friday of the NBA season, and typically runs uninterru ...

'', is not exclusive; local sports networks may still air the game in their market. In that case, the ESPN broadcast on these markets is subject to blackout and

ESPNEWS ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

programming is usually aired instead.

History

Originally, ''NBA Wednesday'' was broadcast by

Brad Nessler Bradley Ray Nessler (born June 3, 1956) is an American sportscaster, who currently calls college football and college basketball games for CBS Sports. Career Early assignments Nessler began his professional broadcasting career sharing play– ...

and

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 ...

each week. After the 2002-2003 NBA season, ESPN ceased having a consistent broadcast team for ''NBA Wednesday'' until 2007–08, in which they used

Dan Shulman Daniel Shulman is a Canadian sportscaster with Sportsnet as well as the American network ESPN. Shulman serves as a play-by-play announcer for select Toronto Blue Jays telecasts on Sportsnet and during 2018 and 2020 he hosted the baseball-the ...

and

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, and ...

Studio features

Unlike other NBA on ESPN games, a version of

Sports Center ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and o ...

hosted by

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 ...

is used as the pregame studio program for ESPN's Wednesday NBA games.

Scott Van Pelt Scott Van Pelt (born ) is an American sportscaster and sports talk show host. He co-anchored the 11 p.m. edition of ''SportsCenter'' on ESPN, served as the co-host of ''SVP & Russillo'' alongside Ryen Russillo on ESPN Radio, and hosts various g ...

hosts the halftime show. Van Pelt's full Sports Center is also used as a defacto post game show and lead out.

Personalities

In the 2022 season, ESPN introduced several new personalities to the network's weekday NBA programming. There are several broadcast teams but no one group is assigned specifically to ''NBA Wednesday''. The network's "A-team" consists of Mike Breen, Mark Jackson, and Jeff Van Gundy, a trio that is usually assigned to the more "premiere" matchup in a doubleheader.

Play-by-play announcers

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 ...

* Mark Jones *

Dave Pasch Dave Pasch (born August 11, 1972) is an ESPN announcer, covering the NBA, college football, and college basketball. He is also the radio play-by-play voice of the Arizona Cardinals. Personal life Pasch grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, to parents ...

Ryan Ruocco Ryan P. Ruocco (; born November 18, 1986) is an American television and radio sportscaster. He serves as a play-by-play announcer for the NBA and WNBA on ESPN, the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets on YES Network, and boxing for DAZN. He hosts ...

Brian Custer Brian Custer (born December 7, 1970) is an American sports broadcaster who serves as the host for ''Showtime Championship Boxing''. In July 2021, Custer joined ESPN as the host of '' SportsCenter'' and a play-by-play announcer on '' ESPN College ...

Beth Mowins Elizabeth Mowins (born May 26, 1967) is an American play-by-play announcer and sports journalist for ESPN, CBS, and Marquee Sports Network. She typically calls women's college sports, and became the second woman to call nationally televised col ...

Color 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 ten ...

* Mark Jackson *

Richard Jefferson Richard Allen Jefferson Jr. (born June 21, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on ESPN. He played college basketball with the Arizona Wildcats. Jefferson was drafted in the first round of the 200 ...

Vince Carter Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. (born January 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who serves as a basketball analyst for ESPN. He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, but occasionally played Powe ...

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 ...

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 York Kn ...

Sideline reporters

Lisa Salters Lisa Salters is an American journalist and former college basketball player. She has been a reporter for ESPN and ESPN on ABC since 2000. Previously, she covered the O. J. Simpson murder case for ABC and worked as a reporter at WBAL-TV in Balt ...

Cassidy Hubbarth Cassidy Hubbarth (born September 19, 1984) is an American television anchor. Hubbarth formerly hosts ESPN2's ''NBA Tonight'' and also anchors ESPN's ''SportsCenter and College Football Live.'' Early life Hubbarth was born in the Chicago area to E ...

Malika Andrews Malika Rose Andrews (born January 27, 1995) is an American sports journalist and reporter. She is the host of '' NBA Today'', which replaced '' The Jump''. She joined ESPN in October 2018 as an online NBA writer and debuted as its youngest side ...

Jorge Sedano Jorge Sedano is an American sports broadcaster and talk show host. He began his career in 1999 and is currently a radio and television personality at ESPN. Background Jorge was born in New York and raised in Miami, Florida. He attended Monsigno ...

Rosalyn Gold-Onwude Rosalyn Fatima Gold-Onwude (; born April 28, 1987) is an American-Nigerian sports broadcaster. A native of New York City, Gold-Onwude played college basketball at Stanford and played on the Nigeria national team. Gold-Onwude covers NBA basketba ...

* Katie George

References

* ESPN original programming 2010s American television series 2020s American television series 2002 American television series debuts

Wednesday Wednesday is the day of the week between Tuesday and Thursday. According to international standard ISO 8601, it is the third day of the week. In countries which have Friday as their holiday, Wednesday is the fifth day of the week. In countries ...

Wednesday {{US-nonfiction-tv-prog-stub