The late Jim Fagan's iconic voice defined National Basketball Association (NBA) promos throughout the 1990s and early 2000s — and now, NBC is bringing that voice back from the dead using AI.

In a press release, the broadcaster announced that it's teaming up with the family of the beloved sports narrator, who died from complications related to Parkinson's disease in 2017, to clone his voice for new coverage, promotions, and title sequences when basketball season resumes in October.

Fagan's voice became synonymous with the NBA — and, before that, with wrestling — decades ago. In its statement, NBC attempted to pay homage to the narrator's ubiquity.

"For many basketball fans, Jim’s unique and recognizable voice immediately conjures a deep sense of nostalgia for a special time in NBA history," Rick Cordella, the president of NBC Sports, said in the press release. "His voice perfectly captured the magnitude of the heavyweight matchups and stars that he was introducing."

In this case, at least NBC got permission from Fagan's family to use his voice to, essentially, generate money for the network.

"We’re deeply grateful that NBC Sports had the vision to honor our father’s legacy in such a meaningful way," Fagan's daughters, Jana Silvia Joyce and Risa Silvia-Koonin, said in the statement. "Knowing that his voice will once again be part of the game he loved — and that a new generation of fans will get to experience it — is incredibly special for our family."

Be that as it may, sports fans themselves aren't nearly as keen on the gambit as the late narrator's kin.

"There’s something really unsettling and bleak about using AI to recreate the past like this," one user on the r/NBA subreddit opined.

Another Redditor pointed out, rightfully, that NBC had already deployed AI voice synthesis when using a recreation of fellow famed sportscaster Al Michaels — who is, notably, still alive — during last year's Summer Olympics.

"It’s where we’re headed," that same user remarked. "It’s where we’re already at actually."

In the case of Michaels as with Fagan, both AI voice recreations do sound quite sophisticated and lifelike when compared to the real thing — but as with most AI simulacra, they leave a hollow, uncanny feeling in their wake.

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