Mark Jones on Jimmy Alapag, LeBronto, and the art of calling the game
Shot clock winding down. The ball is in the hands of your favorite player with the game on the line. He rises for the jumper, releases it, and it's nothing but net. Butter. Just straight butter. Simple, smooth, and unmistakably Mark Jones.
His voice has elevated some of basketball's biggest moments for decades. Fans know him for his signature catchphrases and seemingly limitless vocabulary. For sports broadcasters like me, he's simply one of the greatest to ever call a game.
A legend honored in Las Vegas
I had the opportunity to catch up with the broadcasting legend after he was honored during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. After being part of the NBA Summer League for decades, it was a nice moment to share the main stage with the audience and have them give me a chance to express my love and show my appreciation for all the excitement and support they've shown over the years, he said.
Jones was also in Las Vegas representing the Sacramento Kings, a team he will continue to cover full-time as its television play-by-play announcer. His relationship with the organization runs deep, so it wasn't surprising when he spoke highly of Philippine basketball icon Jimmy Alapag.
High praise for Jimmy Alapag
Alapag recently left Sacramento after serving as a player development coach to pursue a head coaching opportunity in the PBA. Yeah, Jimmy is, first of all, somebody I consider a friend, and I consider him an extremely bright head coach. I have no doubt that he's going to be extremely successful in his head coaching venture moving forward. Back in the Philippines, he has a great grasp of tactics and strategies, and his ability to develop players is second to none. I saw it firsthand in Sacramento with the Kings, being able to develop some of our younger players and raise their skill level to the point where they became extremely productive. He's an elite coach, Jones said.
That's high praise from someone who has spent more than three decades around the NBA's greatest coaches, players, and teams.
The secret to longevity in broadcasting
Breaking into sports broadcasting is difficult enough. Staying at the top for decades is even harder. Jones, however, didn't just survive. He became one of the defining voices of the league. Thirty-six years at ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports. I called the NBA Finals twice, so many playoff games, All-Star Celebrity Games, the NBA All-Star Game. It's been quite a ride, he said.
The birth of 'LeBronto'
Among the countless memorable moments he's called, one stands above the rest: the birth of LeBronto. There have been so many through the years. I think one of them had to be the 2016 NBA playoff series between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors. In the third quarter, it was a close game, and LeBron James broke it open by scoring 18 points in the quarter. At one point, when he scored a basket, I said, 'Well, we're going to have to come back to LeBronto in just a minute.' I renamed the city in that moment because he was so spectacular. And the people of Toronto have forgiven me for saying that since, Jones recalled.
The nickname instantly became part of NBA lore, symbolizing LeBron James' dominance over the Raptors while showcasing Jones' trademark creativity behind the microphone. Years later, LeBronto remains one of the most iconic calls in modern NBA broadcasting.
The vocabulary that sets him apart
As a sports broadcaster myself, I've always admired announcers who can match a game's biggest moments with the right amount of energy. But what impresses me even more is their ability to describe the same sport in countless different ways. That's where Jones truly separates himself. His expansive vocabulary has become one of the trademarks of his play-by-play style.
He credits that gift to his family. You know what? My father was very fluent in Latin and Spanish as second and third languages. Of course, he spoke English, and my grandfather was an English professor. English and vocabulary run deep in my family. Every time my older brother and I visited our grandfather as children, he'd pull out the dictionary and quiz us on words. That's the reason why I can go pretty deep in the bag with my vocabulary. And, like I said, I have fun with it, too, he said.
Advice for aspiring broadcasters
When I asked him for advice, Jones immediately embraced the opportunity to mentor another aspiring broadcaster. I would say, first of all, document the X's and O's of the game: the time, the score, the possession, just the nuts and bolts. But to document the game in an entertaining fashion, and entertaining means different things to different people, you have to be your best organic self. I do my best to be who I am on the air, and you should do your best to be who you are on the air. Basketball is such a creative, spontaneous sport that every special moment becomes an opportunity to celebrate it with a special call, he said.
Perhaps that's the secret behind Mark Jones' longevity. Beyond the iconic calls and memorable one-liners is a genuine love for basketball and the people around it. I love my NBA family as well, not just here, but across the waters, all the way back to the Philippines as well, he said.