The Portland Trail Blazers have landed on a new voice for their television broadcast, at least for now.
Travis Demers is set to handle TV play-by-play on a trial basis when the 2026-27 NBA season begins, according to team and league sources who spoke to The Oregonian/OregonLive. The plan is for him to call games one by one as the Blazers roll out a refreshed broadcast team that also includes color analyst Lamar Hurd and courtside reporter Brooke Olzendam.
Demers is hardly a stranger in Portland. He has spent the last seven seasons as the Blazers’ radio play-by-play voice and has stepped in on television before, including last week’s exhibition opener against the Golden State Warriors. Team decision-makers came away impressed with that performance, and he’ll now get a chance to turn the audition into a full-season role.
The door isn’t locked either way. A league source said Demers could keep the job all year, but the Blazers are still leaving room to test other voices along the way.
That could mean bringing in a temporary play-by-play announcer for four or five games at a time, both to evaluate alternatives and to give Demers occasional rest. It also remains possible he holds the position for the entire season.
This is the latest twist in an offseason that became a mess fast for Blazers Broadcasting. The long partnership with Kevin Calabro came to an end, and the team’s replacement plan blew up almost immediately.
Calabro, who had hoped to return in a part-time capacity, departed in July after what he described as a “subprime” contract offer from the Blazers and new owner Tom Dundon. He has since been hired by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Blazers then moved quickly and hired Braiden Bell after an extensive search that included 10 candidates. Bell, 29, beat out veteran Kyle Draper in part because the team saw him as a “rising star” who could bring a new voice to the booth.
That plan lasted less than a day.
About eight hours after Bell was announced, the Blazers cut ties with him after offensive social media posts from his teenage years surfaced. The posts included misogynistic and racist comments about women and Asians.
With the regular season less than three weeks away, the team was suddenly back at square one.
Demers emerged as the fallback option over Draper, according to a league source, with the Blazers believing he has the skill to develop into the role and that fans already know and like him. He has lived in the Portland area for more than 20 years and has built a résumé that includes work for the Hillsboro Hops, the University of Portland, SiriusXM College Sports Nation and the now-defunct NBC Sports Northwest.
His move to television also leaves the radio side unsettled. The Blazers have long preferred to keep a separate radio broadcast rather than follow the path Dundon used with the Carolina Hurricanes, where he owns the NHL club.
But the late scramble may force their hand, at least to start. The most likely outcome is that Demers’ television call will be simulcast on radio when the season opens, with the team sorting out the rest as it goes.
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