The Portland Trail Blazers have done the fastest 180 imaginable with their newest announcer.
The Blazers announced Thursday that they are hiring 29-year-old broadcaster Braiden Bell as the team’s play-by-play voice for the upcoming season. Bell will replace veteran Kevin Calabro in the booth.
Bell, who calls games for the G League Valley Sun and the Phoenix Mercury, even went to the X to introduce himself to the Blazers’ newest fan base. The post is still up as of writing.
Rip City – Wow, this is going to be an awesome ride! It’s hard to describe the honor I feel. I can’t wait to live in this community and fanbase.
My goal is to make you proud every game and honor the incredible play-by-play history and tradition of the Blazers. Talk to you! https://t.co/Q1ObcmzU6z
— Braiden Bell (@braidenbellpxp) October 1, 2026
Hours after the Blazers named Bell as their next broadcaster, the team cut ties with him after a KGW reporter dug into his controversial posts from when he was a teenager.
Bell’s tweets in 2012 included a post saying he was “not racist” but that he was offended by “Asian people.” He also made many misogynistic statements from 2012 to 2013.
“I’m not racist at all.. But not gonna lie.. Asian people piss me off! Hahaha #Honest,” he wrote in a tweet on December 9, 2012.
“Gotta give a shoutout to all the big girls out there and in the closet w–res,” Bell wrote in a tweet on Nov. 30, 2012.
“We got a sl-t alert in aisle 10,” he wrote on Feb. 13, 2013.
“Girls these nights… Smh. #ThirstyForTheD,” she wrote on Feb. 24, 2013.
The Blazers released a statement Thursday night that they backtracked on the decision because of Bell’s posts that were “a clear violation of team and league rules, as well as our values and expectations.”
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 2, 2026
Bell, an NBA announcer for several hours, isn’t the league’s first broadcaster to run into trouble this offseason. San Antonio Spurs play-by-play man Jacob Tobey was fired in July for allegedly having an affair with a player’s brother.
The Spurs eventually gave Tobey his job back, but it remains unclear whether Bell will have the same grace.