NBC revealed this month that it used AI to re-create the voice of longtime announcer Jim Fagan in its NBA promotion, sparking debate about where sports broadcasting is headed. The result? An eerily familiar tone delivering new scripts, indistinguishable to most ears.

It’s a telling sign of the times — and it raises a deeper question for the future of sports media: What happens when we can preserve a voice, a style, even a personality, long after the person behind it steps away?

As a diehard New York Knicks fan, I couldn’t help but think of Walt “Clyde” Frazier — a Hall of Famer on the court and a legend in the booth, whose voice and vivid turns of phrase (“stumbling and bumbling,” “posting and toasting,” “feline quickness”) have become as much a part of Knicks games as the court itself. Though Clyde intends to keep announcing well into his 80s, like Harry Caray or Chick Hearn before him, Knicks fans know the day will come when we’ll have to say goodbye and welcome a new generation into the booth.

But what if we didn’t have to?

With advances in AI, it may not be imminent that we get a fully convincing, real-time........

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