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

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

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