Bill Simmons’ hoops hour will tip onto TV on Thursday night.

ESPN will bow The Grantland Basketball Hour on Thursday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. (ET). The initial Grantland-branded show will feature editor-in-chief Simmons and ESPN NBA analyst Jalen Rose. They will be joined by guests Michelle Beadle, the worldwide leader’s lead NBA game analyst Jeff Van Gundy and Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers. The five will size up an array of NBA topics ahead of the 2014-15 campaign before a studio audience at ESPN’s Los Angeles production center.

All told, there will be up to 18 one-hour primetime Grantland Basketball specials throughout the NBA season and The Finals. Additional episodes are planned for the NBA Draft and free-agency period.

“We are delighted to bring the Grantland brand to television – it's the natural evolution for our site and for everything Jalen and I have been doing on our video channel,” Simmons said in a release. “We want to be creative, we want to be unpredictable and we want to stand out.”

In addition to airing on ESPN, the show will encore on ESPN2 and ABC, with segments also featured on Grantland.com and integrated within ESPN platforms, including SportsCenter. Thursday’s premiere episode will re-air on ABC on Saturday, Oct., 25 at 2 p.m.

Following a suspension, Simmons was recently reinstated to ESPN following critical remarks he made about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stemming from the Rice Ray domestic violence incident.

While Grantland makes the jump to TV, Simmons’ seat on the NBA Countdown roster will remain empty this year as ESPN/ABC will go with a primary three-person team of Sage Steele, Doug Collins and Rose on Fridays and Sundays.

The trio of ESPN NBA insider Doris Burke and analysts Avery Johnson and Rose will return for their second Countdown campaign on Wednesdays.

ESPN has suspended Grantland editor Bill Simmons after he called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a “liar” for his handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence mess during a profanity-laden Sept. 22 BS podcast.

Simmons, who was suspended last year for critical comments about ESPN's debate show First Take, will be out for three weeks this time round.

“I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it. Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar," Simmons said. "I’m just saying it, he is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test, that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn’t know, is such f*#@)^%g bullshit. It really is. It’s such f*#@)^%g bullshit. For him to go on the press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted.”

Goodell held a press conference in New York on Sept. 19.

Simmons also challenged ESPN -- which is the NFL's largest rights payor, allocating some $1.9 billion annually for Monday Night Football, highlights and other league-related content -- to take action for his remarks about Goodell, noting "I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble."

ESPN issued the following statement on Wednesday evening: “Every employee must be accountable to ESPN and those engaged in our editorial operations must also operate within ESPN’s journalistic standards. We have worked hard to ensure that our recent NFL coverage has met that criteria. Bill Simmons did not meet those obligations in a recent podcast, and as a result we have suspended him for three weeks.”

Simmons is the second member of ESPN's talent corps to be suspended over the Ray Rice matter. In July, Stephen A. Smith lost a week over comments on First Take in which he said women sometimes precipitate domestic violence reactions.

No longer a member of ESPN’s NBA Countdown pre- and post-game, Simmons is scheduled to tip off The Grantland Basketball Show next month.