Derrin Horton will be the new voice welcoming fans to Los Angeles Lakers home games, taking over a public address job that Lawrence Tanter held for 43 seasons.
The Lakers announced Horton’s hiring Thursday. The former KTLA sports anchor steps into one of the franchise’s most recognizable off-court roles as a new season approaches.
Horton is expected to make his debut Oct. 8, when the Lakers host the Sacramento Kings in a preseason game at Crypto.com Arena.
For fans, the immediate change will be heard inside the building: player introductions and the announcements that accompany the action. For Horton, it also means following someone whose work he admired and whose friendship mattered to him.
“It’s a dream,” Horton said. “I mean, are you kidding me? The Lakers? …”
Who is Derrin Horton?
Horton brings a background that reaches well beyond reading scores from a studio desk. His professional biography describes a career encompassing sports reporting, anchoring, hosting, writing and play-by-play, along with a decade doing voice work for NFL Films.
That combination is relevant to the assignment. Arena announcing demands clear delivery in short bursts, while a television broadcast gives its commentators much more room to explain what happened. Horton has worked with both the information and performance sides of sports coverage.
His biography also lists experience covering the NBA Finals, Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup Final and major college championships. The Lakers are bringing in someone accustomed to working around major sporting events, even as he takes on a different relationship with the home crowd.
Many Southern California viewers will associate him with KTLA, but his connection to Lakers coverage predates that chapter. TV Guide’s career profile credits Horton with anchoring KCAL-TV’s “Sports Central” and handling feature reporting for the station’s Lakers coverage during a five-year stint.
The same profile traces his play-by-play experience to Syracuse’s student-run WAER radio station and lists later hosting assignments on NFL Network programs including “NFL Total Access” and “Path to the Draft.” His resume spans the preparation required for a reported feature, the pace of a live studio show and the timing of calling a game.
The move also brings him back to an early broadcasting assignment. Horton first handled public address duties for basketball at Holy Cross High School. Years later, the microphone will put him alongside an NBA floor, with an audience that has grown accustomed to a very particular voice.
Horton’s local work extends beyond television. He has more than a decade of experience hosting the Los Angeles Marathon, another assignment involving a live event and its audience. That experience adds a different dimension to the studio and game coverage on his resume.
His professional biography also identifies Special Olympics Southern California among the organizations he has volunteered with and describes his work mentoring interns and people entering the media industry. Those are established Southern California connections accompanying the hire, alongside the on-air career through which many Lakers fans already know him.
Horton’s message about following Lawrence Tanter
Horton spoke about the personal loss involved in the transition, explaining that he had wanted an opportunity to ask Tanter for advice before his first game. He acknowledged how much history his predecessor had accumulated in the job.
“I’ll never be – nobody could be, who could be LT?” Horton said. “His legacy was built over five decades. I’m going to miss him. … I was hoping to talk to him before the first game and to get some thoughts from him, but, we’re going to miss him, and I hope I do him proud.”
That gives his introduction a different tone from a routine staffing announcement. Horton is preparing to establish a relationship with fans while recognizing that many of them are still mourning the person they heard at home games for decades.
His own comments leave room for both responsibilities. He can appreciate what Tanter meant to the franchise without claiming that one new appointment can reproduce everything built over a 43-season career.
The history comes with the chair; familiarity with the new announcer will take games and time.
“I’ll never be – nobody could be, who could be LT?” Derrin Horton said. “His legacy was built over five decades. I’m going to miss him. … I was hoping to talk to him before the first game and to get some thoughts from him, but, we’re going to miss him. I hope I do him proud.” https://t.co/FSjx5dr42Y
— Benjamin Royer (@thebenroyer) October 1, 2026
How the Lakers reached this transition
The change at the microphone began before Tanter’s death. Tanter suffered a stroke in March and missed the final six regular-season home games and the playoffs.
Jason Barquero, the public address announcer for the Lakers’ G League affiliate, handled the end of the season in his absence. When Tanter’s retirement was announced in June, the plan was for him to continue contributing as an adviser on game presentation.
A permanent successor was not named in that announcement. The Lakers subsequently announced Tanter’s death on Sept. 23, as covered in Lakers Daily’s report on LeBron James’ tribute. Thursday’s hiring identifies the broadcaster who will take the public address position into the upcoming season.
The sequence matters for fans who remember hearing another announcer late last season. Barquero’s work covered Tanter’s absence; Horton’s hiring is the new appointment the Lakers have now announced.
It also explains why the transition has unfolded across several months rather than beginning with this week’s news.
Why Tanter’s place in Lakers history carries such weight
Two moments from 2020 illustrate the emotional range of Tanter’s work. Tanter introduced each Lakers starter as Kobe Bryant when the team returned to play following Bryant’s death. Later that season, recordings of his introductions accompanied the Lakers in the NBA bubble.
Those assignments asked something different of the same familiar voice. One helped an arena through a night of grief; the other preserved a recognizable part of home games when the team was playing away from Los Angeles.
James’ remembrance last week focused on something much smaller and more regular. In a Sept. 24 post, he recalled seeing Tanter at the scorer’s table during their eight years together and saluting him as a sign of appreciation.
REST IN PARADISE Lawrence Tanter! Loved seeing you pretty much every single home game for the past 8 years at the scores table and always acknowledging you with a 🫡 cause you deserved the 💐 while you were living! Your voice command and echoed throughout
— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 24, 2026
The gesture helps explain why this job matters beyond the announcements themselves. An arena voice becomes attached to the routine of arriving, watching warmups and waiting for introductions. Players develop their own rituals around the same people fans come to recognize from their seats.
Jeanie Buss described Tanter as “A true original that added his unique style to Showtime” in her tribute. Horton’s task begins with that existing attachment, even as fans get their first chance to hear how he will handle the role.
Horton’s arena job is separate from the Lakers’ TV changes
There is another announcing development for Lakers fans to keep straight this season. Horton’s hiring concerns public address duties inside the arena; the television booth has its own assignments.
In its Sept. 23 programming announcement, Spectrum SportsNet said Bill Macdonald will continue calling games, with Stu Lantz working home telecasts and Danny Green serving as the primary analyst on road broadcasts.
Lakers Daily previously covered Green’s expanded road assignment and Lantz’s return at home. Those changes affect the commentary viewers hear while following games on television.
Horton will address the people attending Lakers home games, rather than taking over either analyst’s position. For anyone planning to hear the new public address announcer in person, the date to watch is his expected Oct. 8 debut against Sacramento.
That is when Thursday’s announcement becomes part of the home-game experience, and fans can begin getting acquainted with the voice that will introduce their team.
