This is Kara Lawson’s Wizards Booth: Who’s Next?
NBC Sports Washington’s Kara Lawson is a rising star poised to be the next Doris Burke. NBCSW needs to find play-by-play talent who better matches her strengths.
“Dagger!” Exclaimed Wizards’ play-by-play veteran Steve Buckhantz as Trevor Ariza airballed a corner three.
Ariza did not win the game for the Wizards on that February night in 2013 against the Pistons, but Buckhantz and his longtime best friend and color analyst, Phil Chenier, enjoyed the aftermath. The duo laughed off Buckhantz’s blunder and emphasized to their Comcast Sportsnet family their unfavorable viewing angle of the basket. The mistake was simply part of another Wednesday night for the friends, full of effortless back-and-forths, basketball conversation, and personal quips.
The Wizards losing didn’t matter. Washington was en route to a 29-win season. The miscalled, “Dagger!” only enhanced the broadcast.
The middle of winter tends to be lethargic. Buckhantz’s calls, correct or not, breathed life into winter weeknights.
For 20 years, Buckhantz and Chenier called and analyzed Wizards games for regional viewers. The pair’s affinity for each other and the game were evident on a nightly basis. Buckhantz’s enthusiasm and Chenier’s calmness were a perfect match for a basketball broadcast. Buckhantz has regularly claimed that calling games for his hometown team was a career aspiration. Chenier’s successful history as a player with the Bullets and poise on camera presented a natural fit for television.
The partnership was great, until better options were available.
NBC Sports Washington (NBCSW, formerly Comcast Sportsnet) shocked most fans at the end of the 2016-2017 season by announcing Chenier would not be returning as color analyst for the 2017-2018 season.
Fans were not happy. Local media personalities were not happy. Buckhantz was not happy.
Enter rising star Kara Lawson. Basketball fans, fervent and casual, were happy. Ratings were happy.
Lawson’s recent playing career, ESPN national broadcast experience, preparedness, attention to detail, and knowledge of the modern NBA was evident from the beginning, serving as a stark contrast to Chenier’s reactionary analysis of games (reactionary analysis does not mean, “bad”)
To a broader viewing audience, Lawson was an upgrade over Chenier. New D.C. sports fans and basketball fans flipping through ESPN2, ESPN, GOLF, NBCSN, MASN and FXX on their XFinity cable guides stopped on NBCSW Wizards hoops and liked the product.
NBCSW’s average household rating for Wizards’ broadcasts grew by 42% in Lawson’s first season.
Causation is impossible to prove, but adding Lawson’s pedigree, insight, and demeanor on camera certainly helped attract a broader and more stable viewing audience: new D.C. sports fans (the city adds tens of thousands of new residents each year), casual basketball fans (XFinity flippers who stopped because they were mesmerized by Lawson’s articulate brilliance), fervent NBA fans (partnering with the overall growth of the NBA), women (watching a woman run laps around men in the same position is motivating and inspiring), and people who didn’t grow up with Buck and Phil (the Wizards have been terrible to mediocre for decades, why tune in? Why care passionately about a regional broadcast team?).
A small pocket of Bullets and Wizards diehards loved Buck and Phil. Basketball fans, new D.C. residents, and channel flippers apparently love Lawson.
Buckhantz has struggled to keep up with Lawson’s astute commentary. The chemistry between the pair was palpably uneven. Buckhantz’s quirky commentary and jaded fandom (how could you not be jaded after two-plus decades of Wizards’ hoops?) never quite meshed with Lawson’s superior analytical skills and career growth trajectory. Buck clearly missed Phil.
Similar to the news of Chenier leaving the booth, fans were rocked just two years later when NBCSW announced it wouldn’t be renewing Buckhantz’s contract.
Now comes knowledge that NBCSW executives are actually following through and interviewing a dozen people for Buckhantz’s play-by-play position.
None may prove as effective as Buckhantz, but a team struggling to find any sort of winning, successful, smart, or enjoyable culture could use a fresh voice, tone, and angle. While Buck’s, “Dagger!” calls have been cemented in D.C. basketball lore, he hasn’t called a NBA Finals, let alone an Eastern Conference Finals. A new face and voice on television may energize a sad, tired franchise in dire need of a shakeup. Diehard Buck and Phil fans will be angry, but they’re angry because the Wizards disappoint them season after season. This won’t change.
New memories can be made. New television relationships can be developed. New voices can be heard. A new era can be defined.
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Lawson is a rising star poised to be the next Doris Burke. Washington is lucky to have Lawson’s expertise. NBCSW needs to take any action necessary to keep their color analyst happy and motivated while she’s in town. Finding a more compatible partner for the Alexandria native in the booth is a smart move by executives.
Here’s to wishing Buckhantz a stable and successful run in another market if NBCSW insists on hiring new play-by-play talent. Buckhantz will certainly infuse some excitement to a new audience during the long winter months with, “Dagger!” Whether real, or not.