Can NBA players hear the announcers? (2024)

Nothing beats being attendance for an NBA game. Hearing the bounce of the ball of the hardwood, feeling the vibration of the rim rattling after a vicious slam dunk, or watching the crowd leap out of their seats and roar in unison on a game winning buzzer beater.

Difference between PA and TV announcers

But for those die hard fans who can’t make it to the stadium, they have to settle for watching the game on TV. For many NBA fans, they prefer to watch the game on TV from the comfort of their own home or local watering hole listening to their favorite announcers.

The announcers can bring a level of entertainment and education about the game that those any in the stadium don’t get.

In the basketball world, and in most of the sports world there are two different announcers. You have the television announcers, and you have the public address announcers.

The PA announcers are the ones you hear over the loud speaker around the stadium of NBA games. These are the people that make each teams pregame introductions. They also alert the crowd of who scored a basket or was whistled for a foul. Some are even in charge of entertainment and fan interaction during timeouts, although many NBA franchises have a entire teams that handle the in game entertainment.

Breen, Jackson and Van Gundy

The television announcers consist of a team of usually three, sometimes four. There is a play-by-play announcer who calls the action during the game. His or her partner is the color commentator who analyzes what’s going on in the game.

There is usually one color commentator, but sometimes networks like ESPN will have two like when Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy join Mike Breen at the commentary table.

The final addition to the broadcast team is the sideline reporter will give in game updates and interviews with coaches and players.

While the commentary tables are usually court side, the players generally can’t hear the announcers broadcasting the game on TV. The only announcer NBA fans can hear throughout the stadium is the PA announcer.

If the stadium is extremely quiet they might hear the announcers very faintly, but even during the post Covid era when stadiums were empty players tend to focus much more about what’s happening on the court then what is being said off of it.