Bill Walton

NBA Analyst

Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton will again serve as a game analyst for ESPN NBA telecasts. He joined ESPN and ABC Sports’ in their inaugural season of NBA coverage in 2002.

Walton, a three-time NCAA Player of the Year (1972, 1973, 1974) at UCLA, helped guide the Bruins to national titles in 1972 and ’73 and to an NCAA record 88-game winning streak. He also received the Sullivan Award as the Best Amateur Athlete of 1973 and earned Academic All-American honors three years in a row, graduating with a degree in history.

In 1974, he was the first pick in the NBA Draft. He led the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA championship and was named the league’s MVP a year later. His 13-year pro career, riddled by injuries, continued with the San Diego Clippers, Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics, for whom he won the Sixth Man Award for the 1986-86 campaign in which Boston won the NBA title. In 1996, he was named one of the top 50 players in NBA history.

Walton began his television career in 1991 with CBS Sports, announcing games from the NCAA basketball tournament. Two years later, he joined NBC Sports as an NBA analyst, eventually serving as a member of the network’s lead NBA announce team. While at NBC, Walton also worked games from the1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics.

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