Bill Walton to join Jason Benetti in booth for White Sox-Angels series

Next weekend, NBA great Bill Walton will add a new line to his resume: baseball color commentator.

With regular Chicago White Sox TV announcer Steve Stone skipping the four-game set against the Los Angeles Angels that runs from Aug. 15-18, Walton will join Jason Benetti on NBC Sports' broadcast of Friday's game. Replacements for the other games have not yet been determined.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer worked alongside Benetti during the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in November 2018.

"Doing a game with Bill Walton is a gift," Benetti said in a release from the White Sox. "His mind is a playground, an orchestra, and a volcano all rolled into one. It is impossible to think of someone who takes the audience and his broadcast partner on more of a journey through the world, and to have that next to me is an honor and a treat."

Walton responded, "Whoa! The pressure is on now, but please, set your standards higher, Jason. And here I thought all along I was a trembling and exploding rainbow, morphing into a bus stop."

The 66-year-old is a two-time NBA champion who was named Finals MVP in 1977 and league MVP in 1978 as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Walton threw out the first pitch of Thursday's game between the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies.