Michael Grady joins NBA on ESPN team, will call Pacers at Knicks on Friday
Grady is a proud Hoosier. He used to be the PA Announcer for Pacers and Fever games, hosted an Indy sports talk show, and was a sports anchor on RTV-6. Now he's adding ESPN telecasts to his workload.
When the Indiana Pacers visit the New York Knicks for the only time this season on Friday night, there’s already plenty of storylines to add to the intrigue.
Rematch of the Eastern Conference semifinals, which went to seven games
Tyrese Haliburton and Jalen Brunson, two young stars in the league who had some fun together at WWE Smackdown
Pacers’ first time facing them since the Knicks acquired Karl-Anthony Towns
Plus, the classic Hicks v Knicks, Reggie and Spike Lee conversation
Here’s another one: Two Indiana kids will be on the call of the game.
For the local Pacers broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network Indiana, Chris Denari will call the game, just as he has for the previous 18 seasons. But that’s not all.
This is one of nine scheduled national TV appearances for the Pacers, and Michael Grady will serve as the play-by-play announcer on ESPN.
Just two weeks ago, the network announced its announcers and Grady is part of a five-man group of play-by-play NBA announcers for the first time — along with Mike Breen, Ryan Ruocco, Mark Jones, and Dave Pasch.
Grady will be on the ESPN telecast with Doris Burke and Cassidy Hubbarth, the same announcing team that was together almost two weeks ago when the Timberwolves faced the Knicks.
Getting there wasn't easy for the Indy native. He earned this with talent, dedication, and a smooth, unmistakable voice. He took off outside this market when a broadcasting agent was tipped off about him while taking an Uber ride during the NFL scouting combine in Indy.
Getting to this specific game wasn’t easy for him either.
Grady, now in his third season as the TV voice of the Minnesota Timberwolves, needed a cross-country flight to get from Sacramento to New York City after the Wolves’ narrow win over the Kings on Thursday.
Just last March, he called an NBA game for TNT. And he’s previously served as a sideline reporter for NFL on CBS.
Grady is a graduate of Warren Central High School and Vincennes University. He worked at WIBC and then helped launch The Fan, the flagship station of the Pacers. He eventually co-hosted a sports talk show.
More than that, he paid his dues behind the microphone at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. He previously was the PA announcer for the Fever (and their 2012 championship season), a game emcee and then PA announcer for the Pacers until 2017, when he departed Indianapolis for Brooklyn in 2017 to become the sideline reporter for Nets games on YES Network.
Now, Indy will have representation on the national broadcast. Many Pacers fans were disturbed with how the ESPN pregame show last postseason felt like a Knicks pep rally.
When George Hill played for the Pacers, he would often repeat that he was proudly “just a kid from Indianapolis.”
Denari attended Westfield, Grady went to Warren Central. And both will lead their announcing teams as the Pacers play in The Mecca on a Friday night. It doesn’t get much better than that.
The game tips off after 7:30 p.m. ET on Fan Duel Sports Network Indiana and ESPN.
only thing better, and it might not be a better game call, would be Reggie in the house!