From “the worst announcer in @NBA history”, to “Doris Burke should not be behind the mic”, the criticism for the 60-year-old sports announcer was quite abundant during the NBA Finals. When looking at the online chatter about her on X, it was quite clear that Doris Burke was not the most popular amongst NBA fans, with the scrutiny continuing during the Indiana Pacers-Oklahoma City Thunder series.

From the looks of it, the complaints have compelled a renowned sports network to make a major decision vis-à-vis the commentator. According to reports, ABC/ESPN has demoted Doris Burke from its NBA Finals team. Furthermore, the network has promoted longtime commentator Tim Legler as Burke’s replacement. The 1996 NBA Three-Point Contest champion will now be paired up with Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson for the NBA finals coverage/broadcasts.

The move brings an end to a brief era. Doris Burke had first been roped in to cover the NBA Finals back in 2023, becoming the first woman to serve as a game analyst during a championship series in one of the four major sports in North America. This added to her already impressive legacy, as Burke had also been the first female to serve as a commentator for the New York Knicks back in 2000. She covered the Finals in the last 2 NBA seasons, calling out the 2024 Finals series alongside Breen and JJ Redick, and the Pacers-Thunder series with Jefferson and Breen. Game 7 of that 2025 NBA Finals now marks the trio’s final broadcast.

According to reports, Burke will remain at the network during the upcoming NBA season, since her contract runs through the 2025-26 NBA season. ‘The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that ESPN has discussed a contract extension with the female commentator.

The decision now marks yet another change in ESPN’s top NBA crew. After the network let go of Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson in 2023, it has reportedly struggled to find consistent partners for Breen. Burke was promoted alongside Doc Rivers, but the latter soon left the team to return to NBA coaching. JJ Redick was brought in, but he too left to take the head coach position with the Los Angeles Lakers.

As of now, ESPN has reportedly declined to comment. However, that hasn’t reportedly stopped both the critics and the supporters of the 60-year-old from speaking out.

NBA Fans Hold Mixed Reactions To Doris Burke’s Demotion: “Good Call”

One social media user didn’t hold back with his criticism and wrote, “Good call. She’s terrible.”

As mentioned earlier, Doris Burke is not the most popular amongst NBA fans. Back in May, she came under fire after she reportedly said, “Boy, Kristaps Porzingis looks like a guy who hasn’t had consistent minutes in a while. He’s a step slow” when calling out a Celtics game. Burke had made the comments when the 29-year-old was still dealing with complications from his upper respiratory illness. He had already missed 11 out of 14 games due to his poor health.

Furthermore, she reportedly faced backlash that same month for saying, “There’s a reason NBA Twitter likes to call [Shai] the free throw merchant, Mike.”

One individual wrote, in all caps, that “EVERYONE DORIS BURKE NOT GONNA BE ON MY TV ANYMORE THANK GOD I DONT NEED TO HEAR HER BIASED TAKES ANYMORE GOOD RIDDANCE”. He/she didn’t stop there and also added a viral GIF from ‘Squid Game’ to highlight his/her true feelings.

Back in March 2024, Doris Burke was criticized for allegedly favoring the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks. Comments like “@espn doris burke obvious glazing of this team has to be assessed” and “Doris Burke is deep in her bag of shamelessness tonight” have filled up within the social media space. A year later, in March 2025, Jaylen Brown’s elbow hit Luka Doncic during a game.

Burke, who was on the commentators’ table, said, “I don’t think that’s enough unless there’s a different angle here.” In light of such instances, Burke continued to be called out for allegedly favouring specific teams.

One social media user wrote, “Aww the annoyance merchant got demoted. SAD. 😔”.

Doris Burke’s unfavourable moments didn’t just come because she blamed certain players. It came because of other moments too, including when she reportedly said “Kiss me I’m so pretty JJ Redick” out of the blue.

However, not every comment gave a negative viewpoint of Doris Burke. One individual wrote, “i adore tim and he absolutely deserves this opportunity but i hate that it’s doris, she’s incredible and absolutely earned that spot”.

Burke had reportedly begun her broadcasting career in 1990 as an analyst for women’s games for her alma mater, Providence College, on the radio. She began working on Big East women’s games on television, and on Big East men’s games 6 years later. Since 1991, she has worked with ESPN in many different roles until she eventually climbed the corporate ladder and broke the glass ceiling by covering the NBA Finals.

One social media user wrote, “They removed the wrong color analyst. Doris is really good. Jefferson…  meh”.

Back in June, The Athletic had reported that Doris Burke’s spot on the No. 1 team might be in jeopardy. In light of this, Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle came out in support of her. During a news conference ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, he stated,

“She’s changed the game for women in broadcasting. Doris is a great example of courage and putting herself out there. It was just so sad to see these reports leaked, really, unnecessarily, before such a celebrated event”. Later, Richard Jefferson attended the College Softball World Series in a Burke T-shirt that read, “My Favorite Broadcaster is Doris Burke”.

Overall, the majority of reactions showed a mixed reception to Doris Burke’s demotion. Whether the 60-year-old will choose to comment on this in the coming days is something that remains to be seen.