Former Seahawks receiver Jordan Kent lands play-by-play role with NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers

There something about Seattle Seahawks wide receivers becoming broadcasters.

Steve Raible went to Seahawks radio play-by-play in 2004 after 20+ years as the team’s analyst, and now another former wideout has landed a major gig but in a different sport.

Longtime Seahawks fans may remember Jordan Kent as one of the preseason warriors during the Mike Holmgren era. Unfortunately the former Oregon multi-sport star never carved out a role in the offense, instead playing almost exclusively on special teams and never catching a pass with Seattle. He eventually went to the St. Louis Rams and had a single reception for five yards, and that was that after 2009.

Imagine my surprise that when I moved to the Portland area in 2017 and started watching Portland Trail Blazers basketball games, Jordan Kent was the local television host for pre-game and post-game coverage on NBC Sports Northwest. Legendary Seattle SuperSonics voice Kevin Calabro was behind the mic for the Blazers up until the NBA shutdown, at which point he stepped down from his role — a role I might add didn’t totally pan out with the fans in large part due to his previous Sonics affiliation. Kent, who had no play-by-play experience before, was the emergency replacement for the Orlando-based NBA bubble and had to call games from a Portland studio. He’s evidently a quick learner and now the Blazers have made him their full time voice.

Here’s a sampling of his work:

For the uninitiated, the Blazers are a Pacific Northwest sports team that is heavily reliant on a superstar to save them with a lot of offense, especially in late-game situations, while the team makes life hard for themselves with some of the worst and most disorganized defense you can imagine.

Congrats to Kent on his promotion! And as always, bring back the Sonics.