Stan Van Gundy is the breakout star of NBA’s return

Stan Van Gundy is a hit.

The former 12-year head coach was featured alongside play-by-play man Ian Eagle in the NBA’s return to action between the Pelicans and Nuggets Thursday night.

And as a hoops-hungry nation tuned in, Van Gundy received rave reviews.

“Stan Van Gundy is constantly dropping knowledge on this broadcast,” Kevin O’Connor, an NBA analyst for The Ringer, tweeted. “Really a pleasure to listen to him and Ian Eagle. High-level announcer combo.”

Van Gundy agreed to a multi-year deal to become a game analyst with “NBA on TNT” prior to the 2019-20 season. He previously worked as a studio analyst with ESPN. The former Magic and Pistons head coach had called several games with Eagle before the coronavirus pandemic shut the sport down.

“Stan Van Gundy is freaking awesome as a color guy,” The Athletic basketball writer Sam Vecenie tweeted. “Immediately catches everything in terms of defensive breakdowns. Opinionated but backs it up. This has been great so far.”

Van Gundy has also recently joined Twitter, and had wasted no time in commenting on the growing social justice movements across the country. That didn’t change Thursday, when he explained the significance of NBA players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.

“Stan Van Gundy did something I felt NFL announcers didn’t do when [Colin] Kaepernick was kneeling: He explained it to the crowd,” Yahoo NBA writer Vincent Goodwill tweeted.” Not sure it would’ve mattered in 2016 but there was silence by live networks.”