Evan Turner took over color commentary duties from Lamar Hurd on tonight’s broadcast of the Trail Blazers game versus the Washington Wizards. Turner fit in seamlessly next to play-by-play man, Kevin Calabro.
Always a character, Turner opened the broadcast uttering a couple of Chinese phrases as Calabro noted that Chinese Blazers center, Yang Hansen, will appear at the NBA’s All Star weekend in the Rising Stars game.
“I been to the Great Wall like four or five times,” Turner said. “If you go to Beijing–anywhere
in China, mention Evan Turner.”
“It’s on,” Calabro chimed in.
“It’s on,” Turner said. “You’re good.”
The retired NBA forward sounded like a genuine Blazers fan. He quickly adopted the first-person plural personal pronoun, referring to the Portland squad as “we.” He peppered his commentary with meaningful statistics and the insightful patter of a savvy basketball lifer.
The Blazers’ broadcasting team was ready to highlight the former Portland wing, playing a bit from 2016 featuring Portlandia actors Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen interviewing Turner on a set made up to look like a cable access show.
Turner last played for the Blazers in 2019. In a testy, seven game Western Conference semi-final brawl with the Denver Nuggets that year, the Blazers’ forward distinguished himself by flipping the bird at Denver players at the end of game six before scoring 14 points in the decisive game seven, helping to send Portland to the Western Conference Finals.
Turner will provide color once again Friday when the Portland travels to New York. Here’s hoping the game provides occasion for him to retell the dump truck story.
