OKLAHOMA CITY – Rick Carlisle reserved the opening comments of his NBA Finals pre-Game 1 news conference Thursday to praise and support longtime ESPN basketball commentator Doris Burke, amid suggestions she could be moved off the network’s NBA Finals coverage next season.

Earlier this week, The Athletic reported Burke, who has been with ESPN since 1991, could be removed from the three-person Finals broadcast team . She will commentate on these Finals alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and fellow analyst Richard Jefferson.

In The Athletic, reporter Andrew Marchand reported ESPN could consider the possibility of moving Burke back into a two-person booth, as opposed to the three-person setup used in the Finals.

Burke was promoted to ESPN’s lead NBA broadcast team two years a

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