Former NBA player JJ Redick has emerged as the leading candidate to join ESPN's top NBA broadcasting team for next season, according to Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.

It would be a remarkable rise to the top for the Duke Blue Devils' all-time top scorer, as Redick only began his broadcasting career barely two years ago during the 2021-22 NBA season, shortly after he retired from a 15-year-long playing career.

Other candidates for ESPN's number 1 NBA broadcast team are veteran sportscaster Doris Burke, former player Richard Jefferson, and ousted Sixers head coach Doc Rivers.

If Burke gets the job, she will make history by becoming the first woman to call the NBA Finals on a television broadcast.

The winning candidate will join Mike Breen and Mark Jackson to call the biggest games of the season.

ESPN looking for Jeff Van Gundy replacement

The sports network recently fired Jeff Van Gundy, one of its top broadcasters, during the company's massive layoffs at the end of last month.

The trio of Van Gundy, Mike Breen, and Mark Jackson had been ESPN's main NBA broadcast team since 2009, except for Jackson from 2011 to 2014 when he took on the head coaching job of the Golden State Warriors.

Jackson returned to ESPN shortly after being fired by the Dubs, and the trio continued to call the league's marquee regular season games and the NBA Finals until this year.