NBA on NBC is back with the same face that originated it. Mike Tirico is here to reboot the ’90s as the 2025-26 NBA season kicks off. And frankly, he doesn’t look like the first time he did it was 29 years ago! The veteran sportscaster is bringing a star-studded panel with him, including the guy he’s had a few conversations with in his prime, Michael Jordan. While sitting with the icon himself, Tirico’s social media follower count is increasing with new fans.

The younger generation who missed the first NBC era of basketball are curious to know about the constant face of it. They’re especially curious about Mike Tirico’s ethnicity and who he is. Lucky for us, the former ESPN employee is an open book.

Where is Mike Tirico from, and what is Mike Tirico’s nationality?

Mike Tirico was born in New York City on December 13, 1966, to an Italian-American mother, Maria, and an African-American father, Donald. He’s American, grew up in Queens and graduated from Bayside High School.

He attended the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Arts and Sciences as a dual student at Syracuse University. The NBA will soon reunite him with fellow Orange alum, Carmelo Anthony.

His parents had been separated since he was four. He’s estranged from his father and the entire paternal side of his family. And that largely shaped his world view.

What is Mike Tirico’s ethnicity?

Tirico has Italian and African-American ancestry, but one of his cultures reflects more in his upbringing. His father was not in his life, and his mom raised him as a single mother.

Funnily enough, he has a very ‘un-Italian’ habit that could shock the sensibilities of his maternal family. “I try not to eat the extra piece of bread,” he said. He further revealed how he is closer to his Italian roots, having grown up with his maternal family.

“When we grew up — my dad’s African-American, not in my life, my mom’s Italian — and her family, my grandmother cooked a lot for us. One of the things you do is you take the extra piece of bread, and they usually take the bread plate away from you after the salad. In an Italian household, usually it stays around. So the one thing I do is I don’t take the extra piece of bread. I think I did that enough in my past that I need to stop doing that.”

However, Tirico stunned a few fans in 2017 when he refused to be put in a single box. “Why do I have to check any box? If we live in a world where we’re not supposed to judge, why should anyone care about identifying?” He said this when sports were under pressure to remain neutral or take a stance.

Tirico only ever knew his Italian family, stating, “In my whole family, there’s nobody I know who is black.” His father had no contact with him, nor did he involve Tirico in his side of the family.

The sportscaster, though, had questions about his ethnicity and toyed with the idea of getting genealogical research. In 2022, he officially recognized that his father is African-American.

Is Mike Tirico Christian? 

Tirico grew up playing Little League Baseball and went on to cover every sport possible in the media landscape. A big part of it has to do with his personal belief. His religious affiliation is not known, but in reality, it fits him. He felt that sports allowed people to look beyond race, ethnicity, and religion.

He once headlined the prestigious Mackinac Policy Conference, where this resonated in his presentation. “That was thematic of the start of this conference [last] week: using sports, teamwork, races, genders, different religious groups, different beliefs, different upbringings, to come together for the greater good even if they don’t have things in common. I think that’s what I love about sports, and an event like that is one that sticks with me forever because it showed me that it is more than just a game.”

After years of baseball and football coverage, basketball fans have Mike Tirico back. And we will have more of his unique worldview in the basketball media space again.