2026–27 NBA season

Linear television

• ESPN continues to primarily carry Wednesday night regular-season games and the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, along with producing NBA Saturday Primetime and NBA Sunday Showcase on ABC, the slate of five ESPN/ABC simulcasts on Christmas Day, and the primetime doubleheader on the final night of the regular season. Games only on ESPN will continue to be non-exclusive and co-exist with the teams' regional broadcasts.^[26][27][28]
  • ESPN's schedule also includes a Thursday doubleheader on opening week, an NBA Cup group stage tripleheader on November 25, select Friday night games between January and March, a Saturday west coast game on March 13, and a Sunday afternoon doubleheader on Easter Sunday March 28.^[29][28]
  • This season's NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC is scheduled for seven select weeks between December and March, including a quadruple header on January 30. This season's NBA Sunday Showcase will only be doubleheaders on three consecutive weekends in late February and March. This is partly due to ABC carrying Super Bowl LXI in mid-February, airing the NFL's championship game for the first time since 2006, among other commitments.^[29][28] ABC will also air a Sunday doubleheader on the day of the Academy Awards for the first time since 2007, with special 12 and 2:30 p.m. ET time slots leading into the 99th Academy Awards.^[30]
  • On the final day of the regular season, April 11, two games with playoff implications will be flexed into an ESPN primetime doubleheader.^[28]
• NBC continues to have opening night games, Coast 2 Coast Tuesday doubleheaders, late-season Sunday Night Basketball, Martin Luther King Jr. Day games, and the NBA All-Star Game.^[31][32] In comparison to the prior season, 11 more games will air on broadcast television.^[29]
  • This season's opening night NBA Tip-Off expands to a tripleheader for the first time. Like the previous season, the Coast 2 Coast Tuesday doubleheader format will then air during most weeks of the regular season, with NBC affiliates having the option to show the 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT game, the 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT contest, or both Tuesday games at their discretion.^[32]
  • NBC formalized the late-December national doubleheaders it aired in 2025 as Holiday Hoops, which will air on December 22, 28 and 29, with 8 and 10:30 p.m. ET windows replacing Coast 2 Coast Tuesdays where applicable.^[29][33][32]
  • Sunday Night Basketball expands to 16 games, adding two weeks of standalone games in January that will air against the NFL playoffs. The remaining schedule between February and April will all be doubleheaders.^[29][32]
  • Daytime tripleheaders are scheduled on NBC this season on both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day.^[29][32]
  • NBCSN will serve as an overflow channel for NBC, as well as simulcasting Peacock's Monday and other telecasts. Telemundo has Spanish-language broadcasts of 10 Sunday Night Basketball games and the All-Star Game.^[32]
• NBA TV will continue to televise select games throughout the regular season when the other broadcasters are not airing games, simulcast from regional broadcasters.^[34] NBA TV's schedule this season includes the Mexico City Global Game.^[35]

Streaming

• Amazon Prime Video continues to have Friday night doubleheaders throughout most of the regular season (including most NBA Cup group stage nights, one of those is a doubleheader to lead out its Black Friday Football game on November 27), late-season Thursday night games, and late-season Saturday afternoon games, as well as the entire knockout round of the NBA Cup and both European Global games. As Christmas Day lands on a Friday in 2026, Prime Video will instead have its doubleheader for that week on Wednesday, December 23. Prime Video's Thursday schedule this season begins with a New Year's Eve afternoon game as a lead in to the Thursday Night Football finale. Thursday night doubleheaders are then primarily scheduled between January and April, with the January 14 Paris Global game instead serving as an afternoon singleheader. Saturday afternoon games (mostly doubleheaders) then run on select weeks in February and March.^[26][36][37]
• The ESPN app's Unlimited plan will stream all ESPN-produced games. The ESPN app's lower Select plan or Disney+ may also stream select games.^[27]
• Peacock will simulcast all games aired by the NBC broadcast network, including both Coast 2 Coast Tuesday games nationwide. Peacock will also have Monday night games throughout most of the regular season (with one to two games per week, except December 28 which airs on the NBC broadcast network), including night games on both Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day.^[32]
• The league-owned NBA League Pass will continue to offer out-of-market games, and live access to NBA TV.

Postseason

Amazon Prime Video will stream all play-in tournament games. The first two playoff rounds will then be split between Amazon Prime Video, ESPN/ABC and NBC/Peacock. Amazon Prime Video will have between nine and 17 first-round games, and between five and nine second-round games. ESPN and ABC will air approximately 18 games in the first two rounds. NBC and/or Peacock will air between 15 and 23 first-round games, and between seven and 11 second-round games, with at least half of all of them airing on NBC.^[38]

Per a rotation, ESPN/ABC will air a conference final, with this season being the Western Conference Finals, and Amazon Prime Video will exclusively stream the Eastern Conference Finals this season.^[39] ABC will exclusively air the NBA Finals for its 25th consecutive season.^[38]

Folding of FanDuel Sports Network

FanDuel Sports Network wound down operations after the 2025–26 season, impacting 13 teams.^[40][41] Both DAZN and FuboTV expressed interest in acquiring rights to all or some of these teams,^[42][43] although Fubo later pulled its offers as it found that they were not "fiscally prudent".^[44]

The following teams have signed agreements to replace their respective FanDuel Sports Network:

• The Detroit Pistons announced a multi-year agreement with Scripps Sports to carry games on broadcast television and a DTC service, replacing FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. The team's flagship station will be WMYD in Detroit.^[45]
• The Miami Heat signed with BH Media's WPLG to carry the team's games on broadcast television and streaming on the Local 10+ Platinum app in the Miami market, replacing FanDuel Sports Network Sun.^[46][47]
• The Milwaukee Bucks signed with Good Karma Sports, owner of their radio partner WTMJ, to distribute the team's games on a broadcast network and DTC service, replacing FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. The flagship station will be Rincon's WVTV-DT2 in Milwaukee; WVTV had last carried Bucks games in 1993–94.^[48]
• The Atlanta Hawks announced a multi-year agreement with Gray Media to broadcast games on WANF in Atlanta and Peachtree Sports Network for the rest of Georgia, replacing FanDuel Sports Network Southeast.^[49]
• The Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and San Antonio Spurs all signed agreements with DAZN to serve as their exclusive regional broadcaster, replacing FanDuel Sports Network North, Indiana, Ohio, and Southwest respectively. In all four cases, games will stream on a branded subscription service distributed through the DAZN platform,^{[50][51][52][53]} with the Cavaliers' broadcasts being produced by Rock Entertainment Sports Network (a joint venture between Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and Gray Media).^[54][50]
  • All four teams will stream a package of games for free, with the Timberwolves and Cavaliers streaming 15 games for free, and the Pacers streaming 22 games. 15 of the Pacers' free games, as well as the 15 free Cavaliers games, and 22 Spurs games, will also be simulcast on broadcast television. The Spurs' subscription will also include content from the Austin Spurs—the team's G League affiliate, and sister USL Championship soccer team San Antonio FC.^{[50][51][53][52]}
• The Charlotte Hornets and Orlando Magic both signed with Cox Media Group to carry games on broadcast television, replacing FanDuel Sports Network Southeast and Florida; the Hornets' and Magic's flagship stations will be WAXN-TV and WRDQ respectively, while their parent ABC affiliates WSOC-TV and WFTV will also carry selected games.^[55][56] The Magic will host a direct-to-consumer service on DAZN.^[57]
• The Oklahoma City Thunder announced an agreement with Griffin Media to distribute games via the "Thunder Gameday Network", replacing FanDuel Sports Network Oklahoma. Most games will be broadcast via local television providers in the team's market (such as Cox Cable and DirecTV), airing on cable-exclusive feeds of KSBI in Oklahoma City and KQCW in Tulsa (with the broadcasts being blacked out from the over-the-air feeds). Ten games will air free-to-air, with six on KSBI and KQCW, and four games on their parent CBS stations KWTV and KOTV. The Thunder will also offer a DTC subscription service known as "Thunder+", which will be housed within the NBA app.^[58][59][60]

Others

The NBA has reportedly explored the possibility of building a "streaming hub" to centralize in-market digital rights in partnership with individual teams, either in lieu of or in partnership with their regional television broadcasters. The exact structure of the proposed service and how it would interact with the current out-of-market NBA League Pass service has not yet been determined, and the league had reportedly been in discussions with Amazon, DAZN, ESPN and YouTube TV.^[61][62] Some of the teams that negotiated new broadcasting deals this season have either negotiated short-term deals, or included exit clauses to facilitate participation in the hub once it is launched.^[53][60]

• In May 2026, Gray Media renewed its contract with the Phoenix Suns through 2030. As part of the agreement, digital rights to the team will also be taken over by Gray, with the broadcaster launching an Arizona's Family Sports app.^[63][64]
• In July 2026, DAZN announced an agreement to become the direct-to-consumer platform for MSG Network and YES Network, the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets's respective local broadcast partners, replacing the Gotham Sports App.^[65] DAZN will also offer the Monumental Sports Network's Monumental+—the DTC service of the Washington Wizards—as an add-on subscription on its platform, after having acquired its operator ViewLift Media from Monumental and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis.^[66]