The veteran play-by-play voice is leaving ESPN on his own terms after 36 years with the network.
For 36 years, Mark Jones ended ESPN’s NBA Today the same way every single time. Studio lights dimming, he would flick an imaginary basketball toward an invisible hoop, his voice trailing off with a smoothness that millions of fans across America came to know by heart. It was a small ritual. It became a signature. And now, at 64, the Toronto native is walking away from it all.
Jones confirmed today that his final ESPN broadcast will be Sunday’s Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic regular season finale at 6 p.m. ET. ESPN will air a tribute to him during the game, and his longtime colleague Doris Burke will be by his side for the send-off.
A departure on his own terms
News of Jones leaving surfaced this morning and quickly set off speculation that something had gone wrong behind the scenes. It had not. Jones made the call himself, and ESPN has confirmed he was welcome to stay. He simply felt the time was right, and he plans to speak more openly about his decision and next steps in the days ahead.
He joined ESPN in 1990 after anchoring for TSN in Canada and spent the decades that followed becoming one of the most versatile and recognizable voices in sports broadcasting. He called NBA games, college football, women’s basketball, the WNBA and, more recently, UFL coverage. At his peak he was considered the network’s second-best NBA play-by-play voice, and he stepped in to call Finals games in 2022 when lead voice Mike Breen tested positive for COVID. In recent years he moved to a spot behind Breen, Dave Pasch and Ryan Ruocco in ESPN’s NBA rotation, while remaining a consistent presence in the top six of the network’s college football booth hierarchy.
NEWS: NBA play-by-player Mark Jones’ last broadcast with ESPN will be this Sunday, The Athletic has learned.
He has been with ESPN since 1990.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) April 10, 2026
The phrases that defined a generation
Jones did not just describe games. He seasoned them. A player catching fire was running hotter than fish grease. A defender stripped of the ball had his cornbread taken. An isolation scorer was playing with his food, reaching deep into his do-it-yourself kit. During a particularly messy sequence in the 2020 bubble, he observed with a straight face that the action looked like a local gym at three in the afternoon on a weekday.
His most enduring moment came in 2018. LeBron James was dismantling the Toronto Raptors on their own floor during the Eastern Conference semifinals. As the third quarter wound down with Cleveland pulling away, Jones sent viewers to commercial with a knowing smirk, describing the city as LeBronto. The hashtag took over the internet within minutes. Wikipedia locked the Toronto page to prevent edits. A Toronto-born broadcaster had rechristened his hometown in honor of a King from Akron.
What a loss for ESPN. Mark Jones is SO good on the call. Had so much knowledge, skill and flavor.
Glad he’s leaving on his own terms, but it’s still a huge loss for the mothership.
— Britni Danielle (@BritniDWrites) April 10, 2026
What the basketball world is saying
The reaction online was swift and emotional. Journalists, fans and fellow media figures described the news as a major loss for the network, with many pointing to Jones as a irreplaceable part of their earliest memories watching basketball. One fan wrote about watching him on television since second grade at his grandmother’s house, mimicking that imaginary shot. Another called him a staple of a lifetime of game-watching memories.
Concern is already building about the future of ESPN’s NBA broadcast team. With Jones gone and Breen himself now 64, some observers are openly questioning how much longer the network’s most iconic era of basketball commentary can hold together.
What comes next for Jones
Jones is not expected to retire. He will continue as the lead play-by-play voice for the Sacramento Kings on NBC Sports California, meaning his voice will stay in the game, just no longer on the national stage he called home for more than three decades.
Sunday’s game will close a chapter that started when many of today’s NBA fans were not yet born. For those who grew up watching him, that imaginary jump shot at the end of the broadcast never missed.