Knicks Coach, NBA Broadcasting Legend Set For Final Game

Former New York Knicks head coach Hubie Brown is getting ready to hang up his headset.

ESPN content president Burke Magnus announced on Jimmy Traina’s SI Media web series that the 91-year-old Brown will get “one last shot on a game” to end a 51-year career in NBA arenas. Brown has carried a lasting presence in NBA broadcasting after a lengthy coaching careev that included four-plus seasons at the helm of the Knicks (1982-86).

“We think the world of him. I think it’s absolutely remarkable the level he still calls games at age 90-plus,” Magnus told Traina. “We’re going to honor Hubie this year during the regular season at some point to be determined and send him off in style. I don’t think there’s a single human being that’s ever had a longer association with professional basketball.”

Brown’s final game with ESPN, where he has been stationed for the last 21 seasons, has not been determined.

Brown’s NBA residency began in 1972 as an assistant on the Milwakee Bucks’ staff. Save for two years with the American Basketball Association’s Kentucky Colonels (where he won a championship in 1975), Brown has been on the NBA sidelines ever since as either a coach or a broadcaster. Brown amassed a 142-202 record as the Knicks’ boss and guided the team to two playoff appearances. He has earned two Coach of the Year awards and holds the record for the longest separation between such titles (1978 with Atlanta, 2004 with Memphis).

A member of multiple Halls of Fame, Brown began broadcasting during his time with the Knicks, calling playoff games for CBS and USA Network. Brown also collaborated with TNT and has been stationed with ABC/ESPN since 2004, shortly after he resigned from his final coaching position with the Memphis Grizzlies. He was on the call for ABC’s coverage of the NBA Finals in 2005-06 (calling the latter alongside primary Knicks television voice Mike Breen) and was later the top color commentator for ESPN Radio’s national Finals coverage from 2007 through 2019.

Brown has endured great tragedy over the latter half of 2024: Claire, his wife of 64 years, passed away in June, less than five months before his son Brendan likewise passed due to health issues. The younger Brown previously served in the Knicks’ scouting department and served as the primary radio color commentator on ESPN New York from 2008 through 2023.

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