Tim Legler is done waiting.
When All City Network’s Adam Mares assembled a list of targets for the network’s new national All NBA digital show, Legler was near the top. But because the two had no previous relationship, Mares was unsure of whether the longtime ESPN NBA analyst would add a near-daily digital show to his busy schedule. A connection with All NFL host Anthony Gargano helped All City get an in with Legler, but Mares’ fears were quickly quieted: Legler was interested.
Soon after, Mares scheduled a call with his targeted co-host. Mares figured the two would iron out details and hopefully, he would get a yes from Legler. What happened instead confirmed his most optimistic vision for bringing Legler aboard.
“We had like a two-hour long phone call where we were like two peas in a pod, just talking hoops,” Mares told Awful Announcing. “I planned on a 30-minute conversation… I knew then it was going to be a good partnership.”
It was in many ways the call Legler had been waiting for.
A former ESPN NBA studio and game analyst whose role has dwindled at the worldwide leader over the years as professional and personal changes took hold, Legler is back front and center for hoops fans this season. Legler cohosts the All NBA podcast for the All City Network alongside network co-founder Adam Mares and bi-monthly editions of The Old Man and the Three with JJ Redick, owning the day to day of the NBA where he couldn’t before, even as a contributor to Sirius XM NBA radio over the years. Rather than chatting on satellite radio, working in 30-second soundbites alongside Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter or locking horns with Stephen A. Smith on First Take, Legler gets to stretch out with the freedom that digital content allows.
It’s a new chapter for Legler. He is no longer coaching his kids’ AAU teams and recently hired new representation to pursue opportunities in digital media. And he’s diving into new mediums alongside new partners with his signature passion.
“My whole goal is to come on the air and try to tell you about something that was in the games you just watched or is in the games you’re going to watch tonight that you might not have realized is important,” Legler told Awful Announcing. “That’s always been my goal.”
Dating back two decades, Legler was a fixture of NBA studio and game analysis. These days, he’s in a smaller role as a guest on studio shows and podcasts. But while he thrived in whatever environment ESPN placed him in, Legler found himself on the outside looking in for top gigs as the revolving door of leadership spun.
“I’ve been there for quite a while, so sometimes they just want to try something different that they feel like they’re coming up with themselves. That’s definitely something I’ve dealt with,” Legler explained. “They come in and they’ve kind of got their own ideas or their own way that they want to try to create something… that we haven’t done in the past.”
Getting to own the microphone in the digital space has been freeing for Legler. Not only does he get to chime in near-daily, the open format allows him to go even deeper on games, schemes and trends across the NBA.
Covering a league with an eight-month season and 82 regular season games, that constant presence is vital. When reduced to debate topics or 12-minute radio segments, plenty gets lost in the shuffle. Multiple hour-long podcasts a week get a lot closer to what thorough means for Legler.
“The people that really love and crave my style and what I bring to the table, I think it’s different than a lot of people that do this job at ESPN, what you’re getting from me is different,” Legler said. “And there’s a whole market out there of people that are craving that kind of content. So now that these avenues are available, absolutely the timing was right, it made sense to start to look at ways that I could get involved.”
The new opportunities have also meant new co-hosts for Legler. Rather than playing off Van Pelt or Smith on ESPN, Legler is co-piloting shows with digital media veterans. Mares and Redick know the game well, and Legler is getting up to speed quickly.
“The guy has a crazy work ethic,” Mares said of Legler. “When we were talking about a big name, we want to make a splash, one of my fears was are we going to get a big name but who’s not a basketball lover? Like an, ‘oh I didn’t watch that game but I’ll talk about it’ type of guy. Legs is not that way at all. He’s watching the game, he’s full of stats, he shows up every day with pages of notes.”
Redick has been equally fawning in his praise of his fellow former NBA sharpshooter turned podcaster.
“The thing I love about Legs is his intensity about the game of basketball,” Redick said on a recent episode. “Him and I look at things differently, but the same, and I always enjoy having these conversations with him and it’s a real pleasure for us at ThreeFourTwo that he’s doing this with us this NBA season.”
At the same time Legler has been getting comfortable in the new medium, the league itself has been entrenched in negotiations on a new broadcast rights deal. Commissioner Adam Silver has openly imagined new frontiers of consumption among young hoops fans while challenging traditional media to cover the game on a deeper level.
So while Legler emphasizes he doesn’t adjust his approach too much based on the platform or consider himself an NBA evangelist, Silver’s call was music to his ears.
“It’s the kind of content I like to watch. It always has been,” Legler said. “And I think sometimes I’m envious of some of the stuff that they do from the NFL side at ESPN because they can get more into the type of expert analysis that the average fan craves, where you’re really breaking it down.
“A lot of the shows we have now created are more discussion and debate type of shows … rather than talking about the actual game. And that’s where I like to be.”
Legler chuckled when confronted with the idea that some among his new audience may not even know him from his long career at ESPN, let alone his days as a pro athlete. But it’s a testament to his flexibility and facility with the game he loves that he has lived long enough in the industry to have generations of fans that know who he is at all.
Whether it be due to ESPN management, his own priorities or the mountain of content in the digital age, Legler was largely hiding in plain sight in recent years. When he appeared on a popular show or podcast or went viral for a breakdown, NBA fans rejoiced (Legler said he briefly discussed an NBA podcast with ESPN several years ago, but nothing materialized). He was your favorite NBA analyst’s favorite NBA analyst.
Now, Legler is all over. Pop open YouTube and the algo is bound to feed you his thoughts. Listen to an interview by Redick of the league’s biggest stars and Legler might get a name drop. And there he is postgame, as ever, alongside Van Pelt giving live reaction to what just transpired on the court.
“Everybody on earth talks about basketball. There’s so many podcasts. But how many people will routinely say something that you’re like, ‘wow I haven’t heard that anywhere else?’” Mares posited. “He’s one of the very few guys that I feel like is always on brand, meaning he’s always talking basketball, not talking the nonsense. He’s seeing the game.”
The All NBA Show routinely pulls in 10,000-plus viewers for its live streams four times per week. Nearly a quarter of a million people watched Legler’s thoughts on the first half of the season last month on Redick’s podcast, with almost 100,000 more watching the bite-sized Old Man and the Three Things edition of Redick’s show last week.
It's been a great month+ for the @ALLCITY_NBA show.
I always knew @LegsESPN was as good as it gets as a basketball analyst but had no idea he was this good and this versatile at media. A natural fit at podcasting. https://t.co/n5wrLUbb5o pic.twitter.com/n6lyaKdzzP
— Adam Mares (@Adam_Mares) February 16, 2024
From an audience standpoint, Mares noted that Legler’s podcast viewers are more purposeful than on television as well. They may happen to see Legler on the late-night SportsCenter, but now they are choosing to soak up his knowledge.
“A television show is something that’s on oftentimes in the background,” Mares said. “A podcast is something you choose to click on and listen to, and it has a different experience for the user than a television show. So I think with that, we’re clearly trying to cultivate a more intimate setting with the audience.”
Just four months into his new chapter, Legler is thrilled. It’s easy to tell from his energy in an interview that these new opportunities are refreshing. Life moves forward, and what was old can become new again.
It’s often said the competitive machine of sports can pass people by, but it can also circle back for them if they give enough back to it. Legler certainly has. As this third chapter of his life in hoops begins, Legler is looking forward.
“I’m really excited about it, because I feel like it’s just beginning for me, a whole other element of my career and my content,” he said. “There’s definitely three layers to what I’ve done. Basketball’s basically been the center of my life since I was 14 years old. It’s just different iterations of it as you go, and hopefully I can do it for a long time.”
