The new NBA TV deal begins Tuesday. Where are my games?

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The NBA recently agreed to an 11-year media rights deal worth $77 billion. This deal will significantly increase the league’s revenue and change how fans watch games starting with the 2025-26 season.

TNT will no longer broadcast NBA games, but the popular show “Inside the NBA” will continue to air on ESPN.

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Warner Bros. Discovery’s offer to continue broadcasting NBA games at the same price as Amazon has been turned down, meaning TNT will no longer be an NBA broadcasting partner after the next season.

We’ll see more games available only on streaming services than before, with Amazon Prime Video and Peacock both having major broadcasting rights in the new agreement.

Here’s what you need to know before the action begins.

“Roundball Rock” returns

After a 23-year break, NBC is broadcasting NBA games again, showing up to 100 regular season games on both the NBC network and its streaming service, Peacock. Starting this week, you can watch a prime-time game on NBC every Tuesday, and starting February 1st, on Sundays. NBCUniversal’s Telemundo will broadcast 12 of those Sunday night games in Spanish. Plus, Peacock will be the exclusive home for up to three nationally televised games each Monday.

NBC is also the new home for the NBA’s All-Star weekend, set for February in Los Angeles.

I was really interested to hear NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talk about the league going back to NBC. He framed it not as a simple change, but as a return to where things originally started – almost like coming home, which I think is a really nice way to put it.

Silver explained that much of the original creative team remains with the organization. Because many of the producers they collaborated with over two decades ago are still involved, they feel like they can seamlessly continue their previous work.

The network is highlighting its history as the original home of the NBA from 1990 to 2002, a time when Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won six championships and dramatically increased fan excitement. They’re even bringing back the iconic, energetic theme song from that era, John Tesh’s “Roundball Rock.”

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The first four Thursday Night Football games streamed only on Prime Video have seen a significant increase in viewers, especially among those who prefer streaming.

Jordan recently joined the network as a special contributor, but they haven’t revealed exactly what he’ll be doing or how often he’ll appear.

Rick Cordella, President of NBC Sports, told The Times that the person in question will definitely be involved in some way on opening night.

As a big basketball fan on the West Coast, I’m really happy with what NBC is doing starting October 28th. Instead of us always getting stuck with games that start super early to fit the East Coast schedule, most weeks we’ll get our own prime-time game at 8 p.m. It’s great they’re finally prioritizing viewers in the Western and Mountain time zones!

Cordella believes scheduling prime time games in different regions will increase viewership, as it allows more people to tune in during those hours. Fans nationwide can stream both games on Peacock, regardless of their location.

A new home for ‘Inside the NBA’

ESPN will continue to broadcast regular season and playoff games, including the NBA Finals. This season, a major addition to their coverage will be “Inside the NBA,” a show that will air before and after certain games on both ESPN and ABC.

When TNT stopped broadcasting NBA games, many fans worried that the popular “Inside the NBA” show – known for its candid and lively discussions with Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith – would end after 36 years. Fortunately, ESPN made a deal with TNT to keep the show going, trading a selection of college football games in return.

Beginning Tuesday, “Inside the NBA” will broadcast for a full hour before certain games on ESPN and for thirty minutes before games shown on ABC.

After the games, ESPN will have discussions that can go on as long as needed. ABC will air a 30-minute postgame show, then continue streaming on the ESPN app. The show will be broadcast 20 times during the regular season and throughout the NBA Playoffs, including both the Eastern Conference Finals and the NBA Finals.

According to Tim Corrigan, ESPN’s senior vice president of sports production, the show will maintain its current format and feel even after moving to a new network. Everything – including the hosts, graphics, music, and overall style – will stay the same. Production will continue at the existing TNT Sports studios in Atlanta, with the same team working on it.

“We want them to do their show,” Corrigan said.

Fans without cable or satellite TV can now watch all games airing on ESPN and ABC through ESPN’s new streaming service.

NBA comes to Prime Video

Starting Friday, Amazon will begin streaming 67 NBA games exclusively on its Prime Video service, marking a new venture for the company into live sports broadcasting.

Prime Video will be the exclusive home for every game during the knockout stage of the Emirates NBA Cup, all games of the SoFi Play-In Tournament, and the first and second rounds of the playoffs. They will also broadcast two NBA games played internationally this year, and will cover the conference finals in six of the next eleven seasons.

Prime Video created several interactive features for its “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts, and they plan to offer similar tools for NBA games. These features will let fans quickly find key plays or catch up on what they’ve missed if they join the broadcast late.

NBA League Pass subscribers – those who use the streaming service to watch games not shown locally – can now connect it to Prime Video. This allows them to watch several games simultaneously on a single screen.

I’m really excited that Prime Video is working with FanDuel! As a sports fan, it’s awesome that I’ll be able to keep track of my bets right while I’m watching the game. It’s a bummer though, because it looks like FanDuel isn’t available where I am in California.

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2025-10-20 13:31