Former Portland Trail Blazers forward Evan Turner will once again join play-by-play man Kevin Calabro as an analyst on the televised broadcast of tonight’s game against the New York Knicks. It will be
the third time Turner fills in for Lamar Hurd to provide color commentary for a Blazers game.
In a Blazer’s Edge exclusive, the former point forward spoke by phone from his New York hotel room to discuss hopes that his turn behind the mic will be the start of something bigger.
A First Attempt
Turner’s first foray into commentating was last April in Utah when the Blazers took on the Jazz. That night, Turner filled in for Hurd, the Blazers’ stalwart analyst. He characterized that first attempt at announcing a game as something of a guest appearance on the broadcast.
“I just wanted to be around the game of basketball and enjoy it,” Turner said.
Hater Number One
But, his chatter with Calabro wasn’t universally well received. By the third quarter of that game against the Jazz, viewer and former Blazer’s Edge writer, Jeff Kramer, was fed up. He took to X to report he was turning the TV off.
Turner saw the tweet and clapped back.
It was more than just sassy banter. The social media exchange stuck with Turner.
“Jeff is who lit the fire under my ass about coming back correct because I re-watched that game and I was like, ‘He was low key right,’” Turner said. He added, “When I’m working with Kev Calabro, if I’m out of shape, it ruins the show.”
Standing at a Door Open to the World
At 37 years old, Turner has done well for himself. He retired from playing in 2020. Over a ten year NBA career, he played for the Sixers, Pacers, Celtics, Blazers and Hawks, appeared in the playoffs eight times and earned close to $95 million. It’s reasonable to think he could do whatever he wants to do with his life.
But, the back-and-forth with Kramer touched a nerve because Turner has discovered a passion for broadcasting he didn’t see coming.
“I never started off with the sexiest voice. It’s a voice from another world,” Turner said.
With what is surely one of the most unmistakable voices in all of sport (he definitely does not like his voice to be compared with rapper, Lil’ Yachty), Turner first dipped a toe into media by launching the Point Forward podcast in 2023 with his former Sixers teammate Andre Iguodala. It opened his eyes to a new post-playing-career lane.
“As a player that would get critiques sometimes, I [could] give a good perspective on other athletes, Turner said.
Over three seasons of the podcast, Igoudala and Turner did more than that. The show featured guests as varied as current Blazers point guard Jrue Holiday, Zoom founder Eric Yuan, and billionaire Black businessman and philanthropist Robert Smith.
It was a good training ground for the live broadcasts to follow. “Point Forward allowed me to get a lot of errors out of the way,” Turner, the former No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, said. “I put a lot of one-liners out there, a lot of two-liners.” He added, “As I listened to other podcast hosts, I realized you couldn’t half-ass anything”
Accepting the Challenge
He and his agent David Falk decided Turner should dive deeper into media. So he took the lessons he learned from podcasting and the feedback he received from his first Blazers telecast as inspiration for working himself into better analyst form.
“The thing is just respecting the craft,” Turner said. “I’m humbly going into it. I didn’t want to jump on the mic and seem like a kid that was crashing class.”
Getting in Reps
When the Blazers reached out to him a few months ago about a return engagement filling in for Hurd, Turner began preparing with an athlete’s discipline.
Earlier this month, he tried his hand at the NCAA game, announcing a contest between Rutgers and his alma mater Ohio State. He appeared in segments of the Celtics’ pregame show and with Travis Demers on Rip City Radio. He made sure to watch every Blazers game and take notes. He watched how other broadcasters operated.
And, when he stepped to the microphone again Tuesday night in Washington, he sounded like a seasoned veteran. His passion for the game burst out of the TV screen.
“It’s all about what I want to do for my happiness,” he said. “I really love the game of basketball.”
Rip City Runs Deep
Turner attributes some of his success to the safety he feels amongst the friendly faces surrounding his former team.
“It’s so cool to be back around the Blazers organization,” he said.” Every time I come back, there’s familiarity. Just great individuals. Kev Calabro has always been pretty cool. Lamar Hurd is classy enough to let me show up. Me and Brooke have always had a good relationship. She gives me confidence, telling me I’m good at this. There’s a bunch of people telling me, ‘Just be you, Evan.’”
(Olympic) Rings Culture
Hurd is scheduled to return to his microphone duties Sunday when the Blazers return home to face the Cavaliers.
Turner said he does not actually have a dog named after Neil Olshey waiting for him to return home. Rather, he’s dreaming big about where announcing could take him.
“I want to get to the Olympics,” Turner said. “When basketball stuff is going on, I want to be a part of it.”
LA2028 is right around the corner.
