The NBA and the Knicks’ 65-year-old broadcasting legend, Mike Breen, recently revealed that he almost quit broadcasting early in his career until his father intervened to push him towards being more patient with his passion.
Breen spoke to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic and recalled the story from back in the mid-1980s, when he almost became a steam fitter instead of a play-by-play announcer.
“I was thinking, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I’m not making any money. I had to borrow money from my parents to pay for my rent. I told my dad, the steam fitter, I was thinking of quitting. I said, ‘Why don’t you give me the application for the steam fitter union? Maybe I’ll do that, and I’ll start making some money.’”
“He told me, ‘Didn’t you tell me you were going to give it five years before you decided whether or not you wanted to do this? It’s only been two-and-a-half, you’ve got to stick with it for a few more years.’ Because of that, I stuck with it,” Breen said.
Breen was initially a play-by-play commentator for the Marist College Red Foxes basketball team in 1985. Six months after he nearly left broadcasting, he landed a job with WNBC Radio to read sports headlines between segments.
In the 1992-93 season, Breen finally landed his first play-by-play commentator job in the NBA for the MSG Network. He was initially a radio commentator. But in 1997, they promoted him to the TV play-by-play role.
He covered the New York Knicks with them exclusively until 2006, when he landed his first ESPN and ABC contract. And his calls on live television have been legendary ever since for all three networks.
Until 2022, his reported net worth was $1.5 million, but he landed a multi-million dollar extension with ESPN in 2023. So the updated figure of his net worth remains unknown currently.
His signature call, “bang!” or even the double “bang!” has made him a household name for all NBA fans. According to Pablo Torre, the sports investigator, he spoke to Breen in 2024 to ask if we would ever hear a triple “bang!” during a live game.
He apparently said that the only time we have a chance of hearing it is if the New York Knicks are in the NBA Finals. And now, in 2026, the Knicks are headed to the Finals for the first time since 1999.
From nearly quitting over 40 years ago, to now being one of the top broadcasting names in the country. He is often invited to also call NFL games. It is hard to even imagine how so many iconic games would have been without the voice of Mike Breen behind the camera.
