Matt Devlin (born 1969) is a

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 ...

TV announcer currently employed mainly by 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 ...

of the NBA, having replaced

Chuck Swirsky Chuck Swirsky (born January 30, 1954) is an American–Canadian radio sports announcer. He is the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Swirsky's association with Chicago sports started in 1979 with ...

in 2008. His current on-air colour commentator partners are

Alvin Williams Alvin Leon Williams Jr. (born August 6, 1974) is an American retired professional basketball player who played for Villanova University and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1997 to 2007. College career Williams graduated from ...

and Jack Armstrong.

Broadcasting career

Devlin started with

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regula ...

during its first season in 1999. He then spent three years (2001-2004) as the lead play-by-play voice of the NBA's

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

, and three years for the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populou ...

. He has also done play-by-play for the

NBA on TNT ''NBA on TNT'' is a branding used for broadcasts of the National Basketball Association (NBA) games, produced by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports, the sports division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Sports subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery and tel ...

and football and men's college basketball for Big Ten Network. For many years, he has provided commentary during the NBA Playoffs in the early rounds of the Western Conference. Also working for the NFL on FOX for play by play. Devlin served as the play-by-play man for NBC Sports' coverage of

Wrestling at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wrestling competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, were held at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium from 12–21 August 2008. It was split into two disciplines, Freestyle and Greco-Roman which are further divided into ...

. In 2008, Devlin joined the

as the team's play-by-play television announcer. Although employed by the Raptors organization, during the offseason he has occasionally served as a fill-in play-by-play announcer for both of the Raptors' broadcast partners, TSN and Sportsnet. This has included play-by-play for the ''

CFL on TSN The ''CFL on TSN'' is TSN's presentation of the Canadian Football League. The Sports Network (TSN) has broadcast CFL games since the 1987 season and has been the exclusive broadcaster of all CFL games (including the playoffs and Grey Cup) sin ...

'' and for Sportsnet's coverage of the

Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...

(both in 2012), and for Sportsnet's

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

coverage in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2022. In addition, in the fall of 2011, during the NBA lockout, Devlin hosted the pre-game and post-game shows for

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

games on

Leafs TV Leafs Nation Network (formerly Leafs TV) was a Canadian English language Category B regional specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. Leafs Nation Network broadcasts programming related to the Toronto Maple Leafs Natio ...

. (The Raptors and the Leafs are both owned by

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

, which in turn is primarily owned by the parent companies of TSN and Sportsnet.) Devlin is known for his catchphrase of describing 3-point shots as coming not from "downtown" but from the suburbs of Toronto, e.g. "He hits it from Mississauga!", "Drains it from Pickering!", "Banks it in from Burlington!" When Raptors fever swept across Canada during the team's run to the 2019 NBA championship, the shots started coming from the entire country: "From

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

!", "From Halifax!", "From

Iqaluit Iqaluit ( ; , ; ) is the capital of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian territory of Nunavut, its largest community, and its only city. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the Frobisher Bay, large bay on the c ...

Personal life

A native of Syracuse, New York, Devlin graduated from Boston College with a communication major in 1990. He has three sons, Jack, Ian and Luke, with his wife Erin. Jack Devlin, who has special needs, served as a student manager for the

Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball The Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball team is part of the University of Iowa athletics department. The Hawkeyes have played in 28 NCAA Tournaments, eight NIT Tournaments, won eight Big Ten regular-season conference championships and won the Big Ten ...

team from 2018 to 2022. He gained national attention when draining a shot from half-court in his final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. In 2019, Devlin became a Canadian citizen during the Raptors' NBA Finals run.

References

External links

Raptors.com blog

MVN.com Hoops Addict audio interview with Matt Devlin

Devlin as Play-By-Play Rogers Cup Tennis Commentator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Devlin, Matt 1969 births College football announcers Tennis commentators Canadian Football League announcers Olympic Games broadcasters Living people American emigrants to Canada American television sports announcers Canadian male bloggers Canadian television sportscasters College basketball announcers in the United States Memphis Grizzlies announcers Charlotte Bobcats announcers National Football League announcers Naturalized citizens of Canada Major League Baseball broadcasters Television personalities from Syracuse, New York Toronto Raptors announcers Toronto Blue Jays announcers Toronto Maple Leafs announcers Canadian sports announcers New York Yankees announcers