Kevin Calabro
Whether it’s TV or radio, for 35 years, Kevin Calabro has been a signature announcing voice of NBA basketball. Calabro’s NBA journey started with the Kansas City Kings in 1983 and made its way to Seattle, where he was the radio voice of the Seattle SuperSonics until they moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. The Indianapolis native stayed behind, continuing his career covering various sports in the Pacific Northwest, from football to basketball to soccer.
Calabro, who’s currently the play-by-play voice of the Portland Trail Blazers, took time to speak to
when he came to town for the Thunder’s game against the Blazers.
I had four kids in four different schools at the time and I’d already had 21 years in the NBA. I’d already traveled, and I felt like my family and my kids had made sacrifices and I needed then to make the sacrifice. I wasn’t guaranteed I was going to get work, but I think as soon as I made it known that I wasn’t moving to Oklahoma City, I was getting a number of calls and inquiries about availability, from some NBA teams as well. It came down to do you really want to move your family out to these other areas where you don’t have any contacts, your kids don’t have any associations and so forth. It just wasn’t going to work. We parted as friends.
I did Pac-12 football for five years, Pac-12 basketball for five years, the NCAA tournament on the radio on Westwood One for five years. I did ESPN radio, I was their lead announcer on NBA coverage for three years and did three NBA Finals on radio, I’ve continued to work for ESPN radio and on television. I did soccer for one year. I did a talk show for three years. In all that time, I was still living in the city of Seattle and I got a chance to see my kids grow up.
The opportunity arose out of nowhere to do the Blazers (this season) and I just decided to make a commitment to them.
It’s only a matter of time. I think that city needs to get their building situation sorted out. I don’t know what the timeline is on that, frankly. That’s worn a lot of people out, a number of people that have had patience and stayed with the process, Broadcaster for Portland Trail Blazers 60 Seattle and I think eventually that’s going to happen.
You take a look at the population base, the great history, a championship, Hall of Famers coming from that organization as well. I think it’ll happen. Just not on our timeline. I know the city of Seattle, those folks would love to see it happen in a year’s time.
There was the unknown. We simply didn’t know if the team was gonna move, stay, what the status was gonna be. We were all in limbo. So it was really hard to enjoy the young players. Plus we were getting our tails kicked.
You could see Durant was going to be a tremendous scorer at this level. I just didn’t see the strength on the floor from him. He was getting pushed out of position, pushed out of his spots. Every night was difficult for him. Nonetheless, the guy ended up getting 20 a game. It was obvious he was going to end up being a terrific scorer, but all the other things he’s able to do, his skillset, I had no idea he’d be able to reach that kind of level.
It was kind of written in large they were on their way out of town. I think when I interviewed Russ, I came into (Oklahoma City) to do an ESPN radio game, it might have been his rookie year or second year in the league, and I didn’t have any more luck than you guys did at getting him to answer my questions. Like I must have done a horrible job. But now I understand he’s not a guy who likes to do interviews. You’ve gotta catch him at the right time. I don’t think I caught him at the right time.
The lack of respect, the lack of support that David Stern had for the fans in Seattle and the city of Seattle. It didn’t sit well with me then, and it still doesn’t now. And nothing is going to change my mind in that regard. I thought the NBA made a huge mistake.
No qualms there. The city has supported it well. The city government has supported it well. Taxpayers have supported the NBA well here. The fans have certainly shown up. (Thunder general manager) Sam (Presti) does a marvelous job. I thought Scotty (Brooks) did a great job to get (the Thunder) to where they are now, and (Billy) Donovan was a great hire.