In 2020, even legendary sports broadcasters are working from home. Now that the NBA is out of the safe confines of the Bubble, national TV broadcasts are having to figure out on the fly how to bring viewers a normal experience without sending out their game analysts all over the country.
That led to a hilarious clip on Tuesday night night of the delightful Kevin Harlan, booming his signature play calls for an NBA on TNT broadcast… from his basement. The dispatch from the basement came courtesy of Harlan’s daughter, Olivia Dekker, who is also a sports reporter.
This guy is impressive! 3rd game in 3 days on 3 networks, and the first broadcast from… the basement! Haha my family always revolves around sports and TV, but having him upstairs for dinner then go downstairs for tip off was a new one! @Kevinharlan pic.twitter.com/dYdUqMGJcL
— Olivia Harlan Dekker (@OliviaDekker) December 16, 2020
It’s quite the setup Harlan has. There’s multiple monitors, the entire range of audio equipment, a panel behind him with the “NBA on TNT” logo, and some nice home decor to go with all of it. While viewers were treated to what felt like a natural broadcast of Kings-Warriors on Tuesday night, neither Harlan nor color commentator Grant Hill were in the building.
One would expect that by the time the NBA regular season rolls around next week, we will see a more normal travel schedule for those calling games for both TNT and ESPN, but it’s just not worth it for preseason. While it makes complete sense from a health and safety standpoint, it will nevertheless be pretty memorable to see these historic broadcasters squeezed into their homes calling games.
