Kerith Burke and Zora Stephenson to Serve as Courtside Reporters
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Bob Fitzgerald (Play-by-Play) Returns to Call Olympic Basketball
U.S. Women Aim for Unprecedented 8th Consecutive Gold Medal; U.S. Men Look to Earn 8th Gold in Past 9 Olympics
STAMFORD, Conn. – May 29, 2024 –Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist Dwyane Wade and long-time WNBA and college basketball analyst LaChina Robinson will join Noah Eagle to call Team USA Men’s and Women’s Basketball games, respectively, at the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad in Paris this summer, it was announced today. The Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics is Friday, July 26 on NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo.
Wade completed a decorated 16-year NBA career in 2019, and led the undefeated, gold-medal winning “Redeem Team” in scoring at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, highlighted by a game-high 27 points in the championship game against Spain. Wade, who served as an NBA analyst for TNT from 2019-22, will make his NBC Olympics debut in Paris.
Robinson, a four-year college basketball player at Wake Forest, has served as an analyst on ESPN’s WNBA and NCAA women’s basketball coverage since 2009. This will be her third NBC Olympics assignment, after working for NBC Sports Digital in Tokyo and for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Eagle will handle play-by-play for both Team USA Men’s and Women’s games, his second Olympic assignment with NBCUniversal.
Kerith Burke (first week) and Zora Stephenson (second week), who both have multiple years of NBA sideline experience, will serve as the sideline reporters in France.
“With this summer’s basketball tournaments expected to have the deepest pool of talented players and most competitive fields in any Olympics, we are thrilled that Dwyane and LaChina, each with more than a decade of experience at the sport’s highest level, will be alongside Noah to call the action. On the sidelines, we are excited to have Kerith and Zora, who have been courtside reporters for NBA champions,” said Rebecca Chatman, Vice President and Coordinating Producer of NBC Olympic production.
“I’m thrilled to join NBC Sports as a commentator for Team USA Men’s Basketball games,” said Wade. “The Olympics are the world’s greatest sporting competition with elite athletes competing at the highest level on the world’s largest stage. I have tremendous pride when I look back at my time competing as an Olympic athlete. I have the utmost respect for these players and their commitment to greatness. It will be an honor to witness their journey in person and share this special experience with viewers while we unite to celebrate their pursuit of the gold.”
“It’s surreal to think that I will be sitting in the analyst seat as our women’s national team competes for their unprecedented eighth consecutive gold medal,” said Robinson. “I am humbled by this opportunity to represent the rich history of women’s basketball on this monumental stage. Thank you to NBC Sports and all the remarkable women who have sat in this seat before me.”
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Bob Fitzgerald returns to handle Olympic basketball play-by-play. He will be working his sixth Olympics for NBCUniversal, previously calling basketball at the 2012 London Olympics and the Tokyo Olympics.
Following is a closer look at this summer’s NBC Olympics basketball team:
Dwyane Wade
· Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, three-time NBA champion, Olympic gold medalist, 13-time NBA All-Star, eight-time All-NBA selection, and member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team
· First Olympic assignment with NBC Sports; previously worked as a studio analyst for TNT’s coverage of the NBA from 2019-2022
· Co-owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, WNBA’s Chicago Sky, MLS’s Real Salt Lake, and NWSL’s Utah Royals
· Produced The Redeem Team, the Sports Emmy-winning 2008 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball team documentary
LaChina Robinson
· Third Olympic assignment for NBC Sports
· Host and basketball analyst for ESPN, working on NCAA Tournament, Women’s Final Four, WNBA Playoffs, Finals, and Draft
· Served as an analyst for Team USA Women’s Basketball at Tokyo Olympics (filling in for Kara Lawson while she was coaching 3×3 basketball)
Noah Eagle
· 2nd Olympics with NBC Sports, previously handling play-by-play for 3×3 basketball at the Tokyo Olympics
· Play-by-play voice of Big Ten Saturday Night
· Called NFL Playoff game for NBC Sports and Big Ten basketball on Peacock last season
· Last week, won Sports Emmy for Outstanding Personality/Emerging On Air
Zora Stephenson
· 2nd Olympics with NBC Sports, previously serving as social media host during the 2022 Beijing Olympics
· Sideline reporter for Notre Dame Football and Big Ten Football and as a play-by-play voice for Big Ten Women’s Basketball on Peacock
· Served as a sideline reporter for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports/Fox Sports Wisconsin from 2019-2023, and became the first woman to handle play-by-play for a Bucks game; covered the 2021 NBA championship team
Kerith Burke
· 3rd Olympics with NBC Sports and second Olympic basketball assignment: served as sideline reporter for Team USA women’s basketball games at the 2016 Rio Olympics; reported from Team USA’s friends and family resort in Orlando, Fla., during the Tokyo Olympics.
Bob Fitzgerald
· Sixth Olympics overall and third Olympic basketball assignment with NBC Sports, previously handling play-by-play at the 2012 London Olympics and Tokyo Olympics
· Called water polo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, basketball radio play-by-play at the 2004 Athens Games, and swimming at the 1996 Atlanta Games
TEAM USA BASKETBALL OLYMPIC PRELIMINARY ROUND SCHEDULE
|
Date |
Coverage |
Time (ET) |
|
Sun., July 28 |
Men: United States vs. Serbia |
11:15 a.m. |
|
Mon., July 29 |
Women: United States vs. Japan |
3 p.m. |
|
Wed., July 31 |
Men: United States vs. South Sudan |
3 p.m. |
|
Thurs., August 1 |
Women: United States vs. Belgium |
3 p.m. |
|
Sat., August 3 |
Men: United States vs. Winner of Olympic Qualifying Tournament |
11:15 a.m. |
|
Sun., August 4 |
Women: United States vs. Germany |
11:15 a.m. |
***
In Paris this summer, the world’s greatest athletes will compete against the backdrop of one of the most beautiful cities in the world where the modern Olympic Games were conceived 130 years ago. This will be the third time Paris has hosted the Olympics (1900 and 1924), tying London for the most as a Summer Games host. Los Angeles (1932, 1984) will tie those two cities when it hosts the first Summer Games in the U.S. in 32 years in 2028.
The Paris organizers are reimagining the Games to make them more accessible to the public and to showcase their city to the world. In a first, competitions will be held amidst iconic Parisian landmarks – beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, equestrian at the Palace of Versailles, and urban sports at Place de la Concorde. The surfing competition will take place nearly 10,000 miles from Paris in Tahiti, a part of French Polynesia.
The NBC broadcast network and streaming service Peacock will be the company’s primary platforms for its coverage of the Olympic Games Paris 2024, scheduled for July 26-Aug. 11, 2024. Click here for more linear programming information and here for more about the Olympic experience on Peacock.
NBCUniversal owns the U.S. media rights to the Olympic Games through 2032, which are scheduled for Paris (2024), Milan Cortina (2026), Los Angeles (2028) and Brisbane (2032). The host city for the 2030 Olympic Winter Games has not yet been chosen.
ABOUT NBCUNIVERSAL
NBCUniversal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, sports and information to a global audience. NBCUniversal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment television networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, world-renowned theme parks, and a premium ad-supported streaming service. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
–NBC SPORTS–
