Ralph Lawler will be Joined by Rotating Cast of Analysts in Last Season with Clippers

Andrew Greif of the LA Times has reported that Ralph Lawler will not have one partner for his final season announcing games with the Clippers, but rather a rotating cast of seven.

Lawler will be joined by Corey Maggette, Don MacLean, Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello, Ryan Hollins, Cheryl Miller, and Bill Walton.

This is an extremely interesting decision, and should make for some incredibly fun broadcasts. Fratello and Walton have experience broadcasting alongside Lawler, and reuniting some of Lawler’s old teams should bring much joy to all involved. Fratello has been a national broadcaster for years, though he also calls Nets games as well. Walton, meanwhile, mostly broadcasts college basketball. Both are considered among the most entertaining analysts in basketball, though for very different reasons.

Cheryl Miller has called games before (she was the first woman to call a nationally televised NBA game in 1996), but has worked mostly as a sideline analyst in recent years. Getting her behind the booth again will be nice, and it could be a window of opportunity for her to get such a position full-time. Hubie Brown, on the other hand, is a legendary NBA analyst, and getting him to call alongside an equally celebrated play-by-play man in Ralph Lawler should be awesome to watch. I’m sure both men will be delighted to work alongside one another.

Hollins, Maggette, and MacLean are all a bit different in that they have done work on Fox Sports for Clippers’ broadcasts, mostly on pre and post-game shows. For them, this will likely be more of an audition for the full-time Clippers’ analyst role next season. MacLean has filled in as the Clippers TV analyst before, but this will provide an extended look at his performance in the booth, and the same goes for Maggette and Hollins.

The Clippers getting such big names as Hubie Brown, Mike Fratello, Cheryl Miller, and Bill Walton is a coup, and it just makes the upcoming season all the more exciting. Ralph Lawler’s last season with the team will be in style, and I can’t really think of a better way for him to leave the Clippers.