NBC Brings Back Classic 90s Basketball Voices for Special 76ers-Spurs Broadcast

NBC Sports is reuniting its legendary 1990s basketball broadcasting team for a special throwback telecast Tuesday night. Bob Costas, Doug Collins, Mike Fratello and other familiar voices will call the Philadelphia 76ers versus San Antonio Spurs game with vintage graphics and presentation.

A legendary group of NBC Sports broadcasters will step back in time Tuesday night, reuniting for a special basketball telecast that pays homage to the network’s golden era of NBA coverage from the 1990s.

Bob Costas, Doug Collins, and Mike Fratello will work together in the broadcast booth for the first time ever, despite being NBC colleagues over two decades ago. The trio will provide commentary when the Philadelphia 76ers host the San Antonio Spurs, featuring stars Joel Embiid and Victor Wembanyama.

The broadcast will recreate the look and feel of NBC’s 1995-96 season coverage, complete with vintage graphics and presentation elements. Jim Gray will serve as the sideline correspondent for the game.

For Costas, the real excitement comes from reconnecting with his former NBC family rather than the matchup itself.

“With all due respect to Victor Wembanyama and to Joel Embiid and to both teams, it’s the reunion,” Costas said. “It’s being around all those people.”

The nostalgic evening will begin at 7 p.m. Eastern with a special edition of “NBA Showtime” featuring original studio hosts Hannah Storm, Isiah Thomas, and P.J. Carlesimo, one hour before the main broadcast begins.

Costas described the concept as having “just a touch of nostalgia and history,” while still focusing on current basketball action. He referred to the approach as “new-stalgia.”

“But then we lean into what’s happening now,” Costas said.

The returning broadcast team represents NBC’s basketball heyday spanning the 1990s and early 2000s. Costas anchored NBA coverage from 1990-2002, while Collins provided analysis from 1998-2001. Fratello worked multiple stints as both game and studio analyst between 1990-1993 and again in 2001-02.

Gray covered games from courtside between 1994-2002, Storm handled reporting and hosting duties from 1993-2000, Thomas analyzed games and studio coverage from 1998-2000, and Carlesimo worked as a studio analyst during the 2001-02 season.

Sam Flood, NBC Sports’ executive producer, expressed enthusiasm about bringing the iconic voices back together.

“Everyone at NBC Sports has so many great memories of the 1990s and NBA on NBC,” Flood said. “We are excited to get the band of iconic voices back together with Bob, Doug, Mike, Jim, Hannah, Isiah and P.J. and celebrate the game of basketball with viewers of all ages.”

The reunion extends beyond just the broadcast, with NBC planning a multi-day celebration including a Monday night dinner and an extended production meeting Tuesday before game time.

Costas revealed that Fratello and Carlesimo, renowned for their extensive knowledge of Italian restaurants in NBA cities, were put in charge of selecting the Monday evening dining location.

“The czar of the telestrator, Mike Fratello, knows every good Italian restaurant in every city in America. And it doesn’t matter if they’re booked up. He can get a table at any one of them,” Costas said. “So, I said to the Czar, ‘Call P.J., you two guys put your heads together and whatever you decide, all the rest of us have to do is know the place and the time and we’ll be there.'”