Hubie Brown to Get Top Commentator Job at CBS; Clippers Must Now Look

CBS will announce today that it has hired Hubie Brown as its No. 1 commentator for National Basketball Assn. games.

Brown, former coach of the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks, replaces Billy Cunningham, who gave up the job in mid-July so he could remain general manager of the Miami Heat, an expansion team.

Brown, who worked part-time for CBS and was a commentator on local telecasts for the Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons in recent seasons, had been hired by the Clippers to work with play-by-play announcer Ralph Lawler on the team’s Channel 5 telecasts.

But now, Brown will have to give up his other announcing jobs, and the Clippers, who have been unable to sign their No. 1 draft pick, Danny Manning, are without a commercial TV commentator as well.

One possibility is Keith Erickson, a former Laker commentator who already has been hired by Z Channel as its Clipper commentator. Another might be former UCLA star Ann Meyers, wife of Don Drysdale. The Clippers came close to hiring her last year before selecting Junior Bridgeman.