TV Voice of Timberwolves Scaling Back Local Duties

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The Minnesota Timberwolves have made significant strides in the relevancy department the past couple of seasons. They have reeled off back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Finals and hope that’s only the beginning.

The changing of hands at the ownership level is now complete. With Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore now in the driver’s seat, the Wolves have mostly operated as normal.

President of basketball operations Tim Connelly is expected to get extended. Unfortunately, Nickeil Alexander-Walker became a luxury tax casualty, but the Wolves did sign both Julius Randle and Naz Reid to long-term contract extensions.

Could there be other changes now that Lore and A-Rod have officially taken over? Yes, but one change that was made public on Thursday wasn’t something they were hoping to see happen.

Michael Grady scaling back work with Minnesota Timberwolves for more national work

Michael Grady was hired to be the new play-by-play TV voice of the Minnesota Timberwolves prior to the 2022-23 season. In the two years he has called Wolves games, his rise to stardom has been nearly instant, which has caught the attention of NBA’s national broadcast partners.

Last year, Grady dabbled in some national work with ESPN. Today, it was announced that he will join Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, and Eric Collins as a play-by-play broadcaster on the NBA’s new Amazon Prime platform.

Of course, Michael Grady’s new opportunity will mean scaling back his local work with the Minnesota Timberwolves, according to The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski.

Related: Former, Current Wolves Owners Uninterested in Buying Minnesota Twins

Former play-by-play broadcaster Dave Benz joined Jim Petersen on the Minnesota Timberwolves TV games during the 2012-13 season, a job he held for a decade, before the Wolves let his contract expire and hired Grady before the ’02-’03 season. Petersen has been Minnesota’s color commentator since 2003-04.

Grady joined the MN Timberwolves after being a member of the Brooklyn Nets broadcast team. He worked as a sideline reporter and host for five years while just occasionally doing play-by-play.

The Timberwolves have had Grady calling their games through this era of resurgence, behind the star power of Anthony Edwards and blockbuster front office moves by Tim Connelly, variables that have only increased Michael’s popularity as a play-by-play voice.

Where do the MN Timberwolves turn for a replacement?

Finding someone to replace a talent as good as Michael Grady will be tough. There are some logical options. Marney Gellner could step in as she already works Minnesota Lynx games. Alan Horton has done play-by-play for the radio broadcast each of the past 17 seasons. Sloane Martin also has Lynx play-by-play experience and could be an option.

An out-of-the-box option could be to bring back Dave Benz for the games where Grady isn’t available, though he and the Timberwolves didn’t part on the best terms. Nonetheless, Benz had built up major rapport with the fanbase, who was sad to see him go.

No matter what, it’s a good thing that Michael Grady isn’t leaving the Timberwolves altogether. The bad news is that this is just the latest in what will be a future of endless opportunities. At the end of the day, however, the Minnesota Timberwolves likely knew Grady had talent that wasn’t going to stick around long-term.

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