Mark Jones Leaving ESPN

Capt. Factorial

Capt. Factorial

ceterum censeo delendum esse Argentum
Staff member
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7186308/2026/04/10/mark-jones-espn-departure/

The Athletic is reporting that Mark Jones will be leaving ESPN.

ESPN released a statement Friday thanking Jones for his work, but did not confirm publicly that he was leaving the network. ... Jones is not expected to retire, though his next steps are unclear.
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Is it possible that he will move to be a full time play-by-play in Sacramento? Or will he take an entirely different path?
 
Section 101 said:
I assume his daughter has graduated college. There may not be a reason for him to stay.
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his daughter is doing color commentary and pre and post game analysis for the Valkyries so it’s not like she’s left the area though.

Selfishly I hope he stays though because I don’t know if I have it in me to listen to a full season of Drapes and Kayte (rough) instead of Mark and Kayte (the closest thing we have to Mark and Doris)
 
Tetsujin said:
his daughter is doing color commentary and pre and post game analysis for the Valkyries so it’s not like she’s left the area though.

Selfishly I hope he stays though because I don’t know if I have it in me to listen to a full season of Drapes and Kayte (rough) instead of Mark and Kayte (the closest thing we have to Mark and Doris)
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This would be a good thing for Sacramento. Most of the difficulty that Kayte has had in her role has been a relative lack of chemistry with her broadcast partners. She simply never works with either one of them long enough to get her timing down just right. For as much contempt as I have for the Napear/Reynolds pairing (and nobody will ever convince me that they were any good), they did get over two decades of working together, pretty much exclusively, to get their timing down, to know when to lay out for the other, when to set the other up for a joke or anecdote... Getting to call 82 games with Mark Jones, as opposed to 35 or whatever it usually ends up being, could only help.
 
She's in her 5th season working with Jones and Draper. I'd say that's more than plenty of time to get her timing down.

Hopefully Jones stays in Sac. He's a bit quirky but he at least brings a professional sound to the broadcast that we don't get with Draper and Kayte.
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
This would be a good thing for Sacramento. Most of the difficulty that Kayte has had in her role has been a relative lack of chemistry with her broadcast partners. She simply never works with either one of them long enough to get her timing down just right. For as much contempt as I have for the Napear/Reynolds pairing (and nobody will ever convince me that they were any good), they did get over two decades of working together, pretty much exclusively, to get their timing down, to know when to lay out for the other, when to set the other up for a joke or anecdote... Getting to call 82 games with Mark Jones, as opposed to 35 or whatever it usually ends up being, could only help.
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Did you not read the multiple-pages thread about why the people hate Kayte? I think it is more than just "couldn't find her timing" but I don't know.
 
KainLear said:
Did you not read the multiple-pages thread about why the people hate Kayte? I think it is more than just "couldn't find her timing" but I don't know.
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It's a matter of opinion. But I do often find that people are better at identifying that they don't like something (which is pretty cut and dried) then they are at identifying accurately why they don't like it. Just as people are better at identifying when they are being fed propaganda which they disagree with then they are at identifying when a piece of media aligns with their view of the world but may be considered propaganda to people who don't share that same perspective.
 
Tetsujin said:
Selfishly I hope he stays though because I don’t know if I have it in me to listen to a full season of Drapes and Kayte (rough) instead of Mark and Kayte (the closest thing we have to Mark and Doris)
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I know it'd be unavailable for you in Japan unless you can get around the restrictions with a VPN. But this would be the catalyst to drive me to pay for Audio League Pass and just listen to the G-Man and hope that video and audio aren't too obscenely out of sync. I'm not exactly the biggest proponent of Jones, but the thought of Draper doing play-by-play full-time and with Kayte as his partner fills me with dread.
 
““My plan is to be here for a long, long time,” Jones said prior to Friday’s game against the Golden State Warriors at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. “I love it here and I’ve been warmly received by the Kings.””
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Via the Bee
 
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
This would be a good thing for Sacramento. Most of the difficulty that Kayte has had in her role has been a relative lack of chemistry with her broadcast partners. She simply never works with either one of them long enough to get her timing down just right. For as much contempt as I have for the Napear/Reynolds pairing (and nobody will ever convince me that they were any good), they did get over two decades of working together
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The “over two decades of working together” part might be enough to convince someone that they were at least somewhat good. You not being able to see that while at the same time believing that Kayte somehow passes as good is why you are who you are and why you see things as you do. More power to you for that.
 
Tetsujin said:
his daughter is doing color commentary and pre and post game analysis for the Valkyries so it’s not like she’s left the area though.

Selfishly I hope he stays though because I don’t know if I have it in me to listen to a full season of Drapes and Kayte (rough) instead of Mark and Kayte (the closest thing we have to Mark and Doris)
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Agreed!
Mr. S£im Citrus said:
This would be a good thing for Sacramento. Most of the difficulty that Kayte has had in her role has been a relative lack of chemistry with her broadcast partners. She simply never works with either one of them long enough to get her timing down just right. For as much contempt as I have for the Napear/Reynolds pairing (and nobody will ever convince me that they were any good), they did get over two decades of working together, pretty much exclusively, to get their timing down, to know when to lay out for the other, when to set the other up for a joke or anecdote... Getting to call 82 games with Mark Jones, as opposed to 35 or whatever it usually ends up being, could only help.
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Also agreed. I liked Jerry, though. His little zingers were often pretty good no matter what you thought of their performance overall.
 
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