The NBA and WNBA have entered into agreements regarding where to broadcast and stream games for the next eleven years. The NBA deals run from the 2025-2026 season through the 2035-2036 season. The contract for the WNBA covers the 2026-2036 seasons.
Pro basketball has been an ESPN mainstay for years and will continue to be Continue, the Disney-owned network remains the primary media rights holder for both leagues. ESPN will be the exclusive home of the NBA Finals for all eleven years of the new deal, as well as five of the eleven years of the WNBA Finals. The games covered by ESPN’s deal will be part of the sports network’s direct-to-consumer platform, and a package of NBA and WNBA games will also air on Disney+ in select international markets.
While the majority of games will go to ESPN, basketball will have more coverage thanks to two new partnerships. It will be NBC and Peacock Introduction up to 100 NBA national games per regular season. Around 50 games will be exclusive to the Peacock streaming platform, including national Monday night games and double headers. The rest of the games go to Amazon. Prime Video will be home to 66 regular seasons NBA games and 30 regular season WNBA games each year of the contract.
Regular basketball viewers may notice that TNT Sports is not included in this lineup. The NBA’s contract with the network won’t be renewed beyond next year, and those games will be mostly on Amazon. But the situation can still go to overtime. TNT Sports That matched Amazon’s bid for the games, making it difficult for the NBA to switch partners. NBA statement Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery’s offer didn’t match Amazon’s, leaving them free to shop elsewhere.
The long-awaited deals for both basketball leagues aren’t exactly a slam dunk for fans. On the positive side, the next decade shows a marked shift towards broadcasting. After so long with sports so closely tied to broadcast shows, it’s great to have access as part of your existing streaming plans. But the downside is that with multiple media partners, you’ll have to double- and triple-check where you’re going to watch each game. Major League Baseball, for example, has games scattered across ESPN, Fox, Apple TV+, TNT Sports and MLB Network on any given night.
