ESPN Releases New NBA Theme Song

ESPN has debuted a new theme song for its NBA coverage and it's... pretty stale?

Beginning with trumpets leading into a drum beat, the new song will be played endlessly into and out of NBA games, pre / post-game shows, commercials, everything. You won't be able to escape this song.

The new NBA theme song is part of an overall restructuring of presenting basketball coverage on the network, along with a change in graphics that will now line up with the uniform colors of the teams.

THEME MUSIC NEEDS TO BE DISTINCT AND RECOGNIZABLE

Overall the new song is fine. It's not terrible, but it also just sounds like background music I would hear when I was growing up and playing my Sega Genesis.

When it comes to a theme song - you have a major opportunity to make it POP. Those moments where if you sing or hum the tune, people around you will join in. Think about WWE entrance music. You know who or what is about to happen when the music hits and the wrestlers appear.

This new theme doesn't do that.

You know what did? The "NBA on NBC" theme song when Marv Albert was calling the games in the '90s. We were watching the Knicks battle the Pacers and the Rockets. And Shaq was in his rookie year and "The Admiral" David Robinson was a force. Meanwhile, Dennis Rodman was crashing the boards alongside MJ and Scottie.

The fact that I was able to type that and it IMMEDIATELY brought me back into a specific era in time, shows just how important music can be when used right.

Unfortunately for the new ESPN NBA theme, this ain't it.

Written by
Mike “Gunz” Gunzelman has been involved in the sports and media industry for over a decade. He’s also a risk taker - the first time he ever had sushi was from a Duane Reade in Penn Station in NYC.