While Prime Video’s first season as a NBA broadcaster won’t be until this fall, parent company Amazon is already making some notable hires for that coverage. As per previous reports, they’ve already added Ian Eagle as their lead play-by-play voice for those games and Taylor Rooks as their studio host. And now, as per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, they’ve tabbed former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin for their studio coverage.

NEWS: Blake Griffin and Dirk Nowitzki will join Taylor Rooks on Amazon’s NBA studio show, The Athletic has learned.

That and more as NBA sportscasting free agency hits overdrive.

Full details ⬇️

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 5, 2025

Here’s more on that from Marchand’s piece:

Amazon Prime Video’s inaugural NBA studio coverage will feature former NBA stars Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin, according to sources briefed on the streamer’s plans.

Amazon signed Griffin and Nowitzki to join host Taylor Rooks when the platform begins its NBA package later this calendar year.

…While these are some of the initial hires for Amazon, it is far from done as it needs to add more game-callers and analysts. The streamer has held talks with Dwyane Wade about a position with studio and/or game duties in play, sources briefed on the discussions said.

It would be interesting to see Wade involved on Prime Video’s coverage, as he won plaudits for his NBA on TNT studio work from 2019-21, but left that role in the fall of 2022 despite receiving an offer to stay. At that time, reports (including from Marchand, who broke the news of his exit) had Wade planning to focus on other business ventures rather than broadcasting.

But Wade has dipped his feet back into broadcasting more recently, particularly with Noah Eagle on NBC/Peacock’s Olympic basketball coverage. And both Eagle and NBC Olympics president and executive producer Molly Solomon have supported the idea of him getting a full-time game analyst role. As Marchand notes, Wade could be used in the studio, on games, or both, and he’d certainly be a significant addition.

As for the people Amazon has actually added to this point, Nowitzki and Griffin are both notable names in their own right. Nowitzki was a 14-time All-Star during his 1998-2019 NBA career, as well as the NBA MVP in 2011, while Griffin (who was previously mentioned as in talks with Prime Video back in October, but with NBC and ESPN also interested in him at that point) was a six-time All-Star during his 2009-23 career. As Marchand notes, they’re both recent ex-players, which fits with some what Prime Video has done with their successful NFL studio show for Thursday Night Football.

There, around that show’s first season in 2022, two of the more veteran media members on it in Tony Gonzalez and Charissa Thompson spoke about how important it was to have recently-retired players Richard Sherman, Andrew Whitworth, and Ryan Fitzpatrick on that cast. In particular, Gonzalez said those analyst relationships were a real asset to the show:

“Working with these guys, the relationships that they bring; obviously they’re fresh off the field and they know what’s going on in the NFL, but I remember our first preseason runthrough that we had, and you could see the guys, Richard and Ryan, going up to people they used to play with. Especially for Ryan, he played with everyone in the league. And going up and saying hello, and that will translate to television. I remember when I first got off the field, it made my transition a lot easier, that I was able to talk about guys that I had played with and gone against. That’s a huge advantage to have, and something I think that we all welcome.”

Similar logic could certainly apply to both Nowitzki and Griffin. And while Nowitzki spent his entire career with the Dallas Mavericks, Griffin played for four different teams, so that gives him some further connections around the league. But, as also mentioned by Marchand, the German-born Nowitzki would be a huge asset for Prime Video’s global ambitions and audience, especially as “Amazon may feature European stars on potential daytime broadcasts in the U.S. that are primetime in Europe.”

We’ll see how Prime Video fills out their NBA studio and game roster in the weeks and months ahead. But they’ve certainly added plenty of names so far, and some who would be newer to the NBA broadcasting world. It will be interesting to see who else they land.