Minnesota Timberwolves fans are about to hear a very different sound this season.
With media day set for Monday, training camp opening Tuesday and the first preseason game coming Oct. 5 in Milwaukee, the Wolves are also rolling out their new local TV home. After years on Fox Sports North, then Bally Sports North and more recently FanDuel Sports Network North, Minnesota’s agreement with DAZN from July makes the streaming service the exclusive local home for Timberwolves basketball.
That means a new broadcast setup, and on Friday the team officially unveiled the voices that will carry it. The headliners are Kevin Calabro and Jon “Boog” Sciambi, two veteran play-by-play announcers with major national credibility. Jim Petersen is back as the color analyst, and Meghan McPeak joins the group as the new sideline reporter and studio host for road games.
The Wolves did not spell out exactly how the schedule will be divided, but Howard Sinker of The Daily Agenda, who first reported the hires on Thursday, said Calabro and Sciambi are expected to handle most of the games.
Calabro is the most familiar name to NBA fans. He spent 21 seasons as the Seattle SuperSonics’ play-by-play voice beginning in 1987, then moved on to Portland for nine seasons with the Trail Blazers. He also served as the lead radio play-by-play announcer for the NBA Finals in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Per The Daily Agenda, Calabro left this summer after turning down a low contract offer from the Blazers’ new ownership. That departure opened the door for Minnesota.
Sciambi brings a different kind of résumé. He’s best known as a baseball voice, including his current role calling Cubs games for Marquee Sports Network and his standing as one of ESPN’s top MLB broadcasters. But he’s also no stranger to hoops, having called college basketball for ESPN since 2005 and worked Big 12 games for more than a decade.
Petersen remains the steady presence on the broadcast. The St. Louis Park native and former Gopher played 491 NBA games over eight seasons with the Rockets, Kings and Warriors, and this will be his 29th season on Wolves broadcasts.
McPeak is another major addition. She spent nearly eight years with the Wizards, Mystics and Capital City Go-Go, and in 2015 became the first female play-by-play broadcaster in the G League as the voice of Raptors 905. Along with her sideline role, she’ll host “Wolves Live” for road games, with Petersen as the analyst.
On home dates, Marney Gellner returns as host of “Wolves Live,” with Lynx assistant coach Rebekkah Brunson providing analysis and former Minnesota men’s basketball captain Parker Fox joining the crew as well.
Michael Grady, who took over as the Wolves’ TV voice in 2022, is still part of the picture. He enters his fifth year on the broadcast and will continue calling games while balancing his national work with NBC and Amazon. That heavier national schedule is part of why Minnesota added more play-by-play help.
Alan Horton is back too. He’s called more than 1,500 Wolves games, including the 2024 and 2025 runs to the Western Conference Finals, and returns for his 20th season with the team as the full-time radio voice. He’ll also handle a select number of TV broadcasts again.
The Wolves still have one broadcast piece left to reveal: the over-the-air channel. The team said 15 of its 67 local broadcasts will air there, but the channel and the specific games have not been announced.
For now, fans will get their first taste of the new setup during three locally produced preseason games on DAZN: Oct. 5 at Milwaukee, Oct. 14 against Detroit and Oct. 16 at Chicago. The regular season opens Oct. 21 in Miami.
In Other News...
Rudy Gobert Just Became A Bigger Timberwolves Question Than Expected
Rudy Gobert is back around the Timberwolves after arriving from France and joining team workouts, which at least gives Minnesota a chance to get its defense anchored by the player who has been central to that identity. He remains eligible for a contract extension, and after signing a three-year extension in 2024, he has one year left on his current deal with a player option for the following season.
What makes this more delicate is the timing for a team still trying to protect its future flexibility while it develops a young core. Gobert is still a key piece, but there is no immediate push toward getting something done, leaving Minnesota to balance the value of keeping its veteran defensive force in place against the kind of cap planning that can shape the next several seasons. [Read more 🡒]
Timberwolves Face A Fascinating New Challenge With LaMelo Ball And Kuminga
Minnesotas offseason has already given Chris Finch a different kind of puzzle, and it starts with the way LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga can fit into the offense. Finch said in an interview that integrating new pieces should be less complicated than it has been in past seasons, thanks in part to Balls ability to organize the floor and the teams move toward a cleaner offensive structure. For a group trying to reset its identity, that kind of simplicity can matter as much as star power.
The other layer is internal growth, where Finch wants more steadiness from the younger and bench-heavy parts of the roster as camp approaches. Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert were among the players he singled out for being part of that consistency push, which gives Minnesota a familiar sort of late-summer question: can the Wolves not only add talent, but also turn the whole rotation into something more reliable from night to night? [Read more 🡒]
Rudy Gobert Could Force The Wolves Into A Brutal Decision
The Timberwolves spent the offseason reshaping the roster around Rudy Gobert, making moves aimed at better fitting his game and their bigger-picture timeline. LaMelo Ball and Jonathan Kuminga arrived, while Julius Randle and Naz Reid were dealt away, all part of an effort to build a cleaner mix around the veteran center and keep Minnesota positioned to contend in the West.
Still, Goberts future does not feel fully settled. He has a player option on the final year of his contract, and what happens this season could leave the Wolves staring at a tough choice between bringing him back on another deal, preserving cap flexibility and continuing to balance his place with the growth of the rest of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
