Established in 1976, the Akron Roundtable is a community forum that inspires and promotes dialog by presenting speakers who inform and educate listeners on diverse topics of importance to the region, the nation and the world. To date, more than 400 major corporate executives, writers, government officials, artists and civic leaders from around the country have shared their ideas with the region.

Each Akron Roundtable event will be recorded by media studies students working for the Z-TV television station, with guidance from PBS Western Reserve and Ideastream producers, offering a valuable, hands-on learning experience for the students. 

All AKRON ROUNDTABLE episodes are available to stream on-demand at PBSWesternReserve.org or the PBS App following their broadcast premiere.

Fusion (WNEO 45.2 / WEAO 49.2):

Thursday, Feb. 26, at 6 PM

There’s Always Time: Lessons learned after two decades immersed in the NBA
Brian Windhorst, Senior NBA Reporter, ESPN

What’s the difference between your child’s eighth grade rec league basketball team and an NBA team? Take away the hundreds of millions, celebrity status plus national television and the answer is…absolutely nothing! Behind the scenes, the world of professional basketball will stun you every day with both its intricate complexity and its head-slapping simplicity. Take it from someone with 23 seasons worth of examples.

About the Speaker

Brian Windhorst is in his 16th year covering the National Basketball Association for ESPN. Overall, he has worked on the NBA for 23 years including seven years as a beat reporter on the Cleveland Cavaliers and two years on the Miami Heat. He started working in media at age 16 at the Akron Beacon Journal and worked there for 14 years followed by two years at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

He is a core member of Countdown, ESPN’s flagship NBA pregame show and NBA Today, ESPN’s daily NBA show. He often appears on Get Up, First Take, Pardon the Interruption and SportsCenter on the network. He has been writing for ESPN.com since 2006. For the last 10 years, he has hosted The Hoop Collective, ESPN’s signature podcast that was recently acquired by Payton and Eli Manning’s Omaha Productions.

Brian is the author of four books about the career of LeBron James, two of which have been New York Times Bestsellers.

A 1996 graduate of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and 2000 graduate of Kent State University. During his career he has lived in Cleveland, Miami and New York City. He now calls Omaha, NE, home where is wife, Maureen, is a prominent attorney and his son, Dane, currently attends second grade.