Ken Berger a Media Free Agent After Almost Eight Years at CBS

The news that Berger, who joined CBS from Newsday in 2008, is out was first reported by Awful Announcing in July. Berger, as well as a spokesperson for CBS Sports, declined comment for this story.

Berger joins a long line of reporters — Gregg Doyel, Jon Heyman, Scott Miller, Steve Elling, Danny Knobler, Jeff Goodman, Bruce Feldman — who, for one reason or another, are no longer at CBSSports.com. In February, The Big Lead editor-in-chief Jason McIntyre wrote a long piece about how morale was low at the site because it was eschewing original reporting for aggregation.

Management at CBS Sports disputes the notion that they are no longer pursuing original content, pointing to the acquisition of 247Sports and hires of Jonah Keri and Bill Reiter as evidence. Nevertheless, the decision to move on from Berger can be characterized as part of the trend of exits derived from where the site’s strategy was prior to, say, 2013 compared to the past couple years and going forward.

It is too soon to know where Berger will land next. His most differentiable NBA reporting strengths pertain to the Collective Bargaining Agreement and sports science. The NBA and NBPA both have the option to opt out of the current CBA next June “by notifying the other party on or before December 15, 2016.” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts recently expressed optimism that a lockout would be avoided, saying, “We’re trying to get a deal as quickly as we can, ideally before the start of the season” [in late October]. With regard to sports science, Berger has written on wearable technology intended to help prevent injuries, the importance of sleep, and ACL injuries.