Byington hired to be Bucks’ TV voice
The Bucks announced Wednesday the hiring of Lisa Byington as their new play-by-play voice on televeision broadcasts. The Bucks said Byington is the first woman to work as a full-time TV playby-play announcer for any major men’s professional sports team.
Byington replaces Jim Paschke, who retired after 35 seasons as the team’s main television broadcaster.
“I understand the groundbreaking nature of this hire, and I appreciate the fact that during this process that aspect was addressed, but never made a primary focus,” Byington said in a statement released by the team. “In fact, I applaud the Bucks for taking the first steps toward making hires like this more of the norm in the NBA. Because it’s time.”
Earlier this year, Byington became the first female play-by-play broadcaster for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. She was a men’s and women’s soccer play-by-play announcer for NBC Sports in the 2021 Olympics and also did play-by-play for the Women’s World Cup on Fox in 2019. She became the first female play-by-play broadcaster for a Big Ten Network college football game in 2017.
♦ The Celtics acquired forward Juancho Hernan-gómez from the Grizzlies in exchange for guards Carsen Edwards and Kris Dunn. Dunn played for the Bulls for three seasons (2017-2020) after he was acquired from the Timberwolves in the Jimmy Butler trade.
♦ The Grizzlies waived center Marc Gasol days after acquiring his rights in a trade with the Lakers.
♦ The Lakers hired former Grizzlies and Knicks coach David Fizdale to be the lead assistant to coach Frank Vogel. John Lucas III also was hired as an assistant coach.