{"id":1520,"date":"2025-10-20T03:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/?p=1520"},"modified":"2025-11-28T01:25:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T01:25:33","slug":"report-marv-albert-bob-costas-hannah-storm-and-ahmad-rashad-could-return-to-nba-on-nbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/report-marv-albert-bob-costas-hannah-storm-and-ahmad-rashad-could-return-to-nba-on-nbc\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Marv Albert, Bob Costas, Hannah Storm And Ahmad Rashad Could Return To NBA on NBC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NBA on NBC makes its much-anticipated return next week, with the season-debut on Tuesday night. According to a new report from <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2025\/10\/13\/nba-on-nbc-back-as-part-time-machine-part-nextgen\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sports Business Journal<\/a>, the network could also be bringing back some familiar voices to their coverage as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Details on potential return<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a piece written by Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal, Friend said, \u201cThere are indications, in fact, that the network could roll out Costas again this season for scene-setting retrospectives, or invite in Hannah Storm or Rashad or \u2026 84-year-old Marv Albert.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marv Albert, Bob Costas, Hannah Storm, and Ahmad Rashad were key figures in NBC\u2019s NBA coverage from 1990 to 2002. Albert served as lead play-by-play announcer from 1990 to 1997, calling every NBA Finals during that period, before his dismissal in 1998 due to a sexual assault arrest. He returned for the 2000-2001 season and continued until 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Costas served as NBC\u2019s lead studio host from 1990-1997, prior to replacing Albert on the lead broadcast team. After Albert\u2019s return to the network, Costas stepped away from the NBA on NBC\u2019s coverage, but returned for their last NBA Finals, co-hosting the studio coverage with Storm in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Where are they now?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After Costas\u2019 brief elevation to the lead broadcast team, Storm took over as NBC\u2019s lead studio host from 1997-2002. Storm then went on to host <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Early Show<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on CBS from 2002-2007. Since 2008, Storm has been a mainstay on ESPN as one of their lead <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SportsCenter<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> anchors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashad served as both a sideline reporter and studio host for the entirety of NBC\u2019s coverage of the NBA from 1990-2002. In his most recent years, Rashad has been hosting <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBA Rewind<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on NBATV.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What exactly Albert, Costas, Storm, and Rashad will be doing remains to be seen in their potential cameo appearances with the network. Albert\u2019s booming \u2018Yesss!\u2019 calls defined iconic NBA moments, while Costas\u2019 sharp storytelling set the stage for unforgettable games. Storm broke barriers as a dynamic lead host, while Rashad\u2019s charismatic sideline reporting brought fans closer to the action.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nonetheless, the excitement for the NBA on NBC 2.0 is there, as Costas told Sports Business Journal recently that he was walking through an airport, and someone started humming <em>Roundball Rock<\/em> straight to his face.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The return of some of the network\u2019s previous stars aligns with their push to bring back the nostalgia of their previous coverage. NBC Sports President Rick Cordella stated, \u201cSo we\u2019re not trying to reinvent and say we\u2019ve got to go in a time machine. But if we can take some things that were native to NBC [in the \u201990s] that we did differently, that the fans in the 2025 era will still appreciate, we\u2019re going to try and bring a lot of that forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>A taste of nostalgia<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBC will utilize some of the elements of yesteryear, with the return of <em>Roundball Rock<\/em> as the network\u2019s main theme song. They will also revive the voice of Jim Fagan, who passed away in 2017, using AI technology to recreate his distinctive voice-overs, aiming to honor his legacy while embracing modern innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The network also plans to show the starting lineups announced from inside the arena, which <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/sports-media\/espn-nba-shakeup-tim-legler-begins-new-role\/\" target=\"_self\">ESPN<\/a> has been heavily criticized for not showing in recent years, including the NBA Finals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the NBA on NBC returns, it aims to recapture the magic of the \u201890s while setting a new standard for basketball broadcasts in 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NBA on NBC makes its much-anticipated return next week, with the season-debut on Tuesday night. According to a new report from Sports Business Journal, the network could also be bringing back some familiar voices to their coverage as well. Details on potential return In a piece written by Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5665,"featured_media":1539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[238],"tags":[301,75,300,299],"class_list":["post-1520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-media","tag-bob-costas","tag-featured","tag-marv-albert","tag-nba-on-nbc"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1521,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1520\/revisions\/1521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/media\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}