Jorge Sedano received one of the biggest opportunities of his career to date when Lisa Salters was forced to step away from her duties as the sideline reporter of the NBA Finals on ABC for three games in the series. And for Sedano, it was a bittersweet moment of embracing the opportunity, while feeling for the personal situation that Salters was going through.
Originally slated to work the event for ESPN Radio for Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Indiana, Sedano was unexpectedly placed into Salters’ role due to Salters’ mom dealing with a “serious illness”, according to ESPN play-by-play man Mike Breen.
In a recent conversation with John Mamola of Barrett Sports Media, Sedano recalled being excited for the opportunity, but also couldn’t help but feel for what his colleague was going through with her mom.
“When it was determined that she [Salters] wasn’t going to come back, they asked me to do it. Of course, I said yes,” said Sedano. “I’ve been through what she’s going through. I’ve lost a parent, so I know how challenging that is. I felt bad considering what she was dealing with. But on the other side, you’re excited for the opportunity. You do this because you want to do the work at the highest level.”
Sedano has experience covering NBA games on television throughout the regular season. So the assignment certainly wasn’t foreign to him in any way. But still, Sedano explained how there are drastic differences to what was being asked of him in his new assignment compared to his role on the ESPN Radio broadcast.
“On radio, you’re basically a professional eavesdropper,” said Sedano. “You have very limited opportunities on radio. You’re basically trying to peek into the huddles to see if you can get any information on what the coaches and players’ interactions are. With television, there’s a lot more planning that’s involved because people are building graphics for you and building packages for you, depending on what it is. There’s a lot more work because of the visual elements of it.”
Ultimately, Sedano would serve in Salters’ role for three games, as she returned for Game 5 of the series. But all in all, it was an experience that Sedano believes could ultimately help him get to where he wants to be ideally in his career, having a full-time role in television.
“Hopefully, I continue to get more and more of those opportunities amongst different sports, because that’s where I’d like to take my career on television,” explained Sedano. “I’m very happy with what I’m doing with ESPN LA and Good Karma Brands in Los Angeles. I’d like to do those two things for the rest of my career.”