For the first time, the NBA isn’t just on TV…it’s everywhere. On every screen, every device, designed for the binge, the scroll, the click. There was a time when national games were rare, rationed out by a handful of networks. DuMont started it all in 1953-54. Decades later, NBC ruled Saturdays and Finals before stepping away in 2002 after the Lakers swept the Nets. Then ABC and ESPN curated every national game for twenty years, carefully guarding the broadcast schedule…until now.

On July 24th, 2025, everything changed. The NBA announced an 11-year, $77 billion media deal with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video. Executives at TNT, after nearly 36 years on top, watched their reign end. Under the new agreement, national broadcasts and streams jumped from 172 to 247 games. That’s a 44% increase. Every team will now appear nationally at least twice, a promise unheard of in the modern era. But how can we catch all the action?

Streaming-first nights & access

• Peacock Monday: Exclusive Monday games

• Prime Video: Thursdays, Fridays, select Saturdays.

• NBC Sunday Night Basketball: Debuts Feb 1, replacing the NFL’s Sunday Night Football.

• ESPN App: ABC/ESPN games.

Just before tip-off, NBA executives huddle over schedules, mapping every game of the 2025–26 season across screens, devices, and platforms.

Mondays are Peacock nights. Tuesdays featured both NBC and Peacock, while Wednesdays were reserved for ESPN. By mid-season, Thursdays will shift to Prime Video. Fridays will be shared with ESPN. Saturdays split the spotlight: Prime Video in the afternoon, ABC/ESPN at night. Sundays combined ABC/ESPN in the afternoon with NBC and Peacock in the evening. No matter the time or device, NBA action was always available.

The season tipped off on February 1st with doubleheaders: Lakers-Knicks and Thunder-Nuggets. Around seventy-five national games would stream exclusively. Even with every day packed, executives and fans alike wonder: Is all this expansion necessary?

Why the NBA is expanding national windows

Behind this deal is the NBA’s strategy: money, media partners, and fan behavior are center of the game. But how exactly?

Media partners want it: From February 2026, NBC will telecast 100 regular-season games per season, all NBA All-Star events, and 28 playoff games annually. They will also air one conference final in six of the 11 years on a rotating basis with Amazon. While Amazon is investing billions in rights, it streams sixty-six regular-season games and highlights tentpole events: Thursday and Saturday doubleheaders, plus the NBA Cup and Play-In Tournament knockout rounds to anchor Prime Video’s sports lineup. Disney’s ESPN and ABC hold the Finals and marquee playoff games, airing eighty regular-season contests, including all Christmas Day matchups and the NBA Finals exclusively on ABC. They also broadcast eighteen playoff games each year and one conference final every ten years.

Global fans are watching: We all know the NBA streams worldwide via League Pass and the new NBA International Pass. As we saw in the 2024 Finals, Game 7 drew over 16.4 million U.S. viewers, with the series averaging 10.27 million per game. Highlights on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok rack up millions of views, and the 2025 Finals smashed records with 5 billion social media views – a 215% jump from the year before. With more national broadcasts than ever, it’s easier than ever to bring the action to fans around the globe.

Betting on more exposure = more engagement: More games mean more eyes on teams, more merchandise sold, and more streams watched. Teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Lakers each have 34 national TV games. This expansion provides a platform for emerging stars such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards to gain broader recognition. Even Gen Z and younger fans, who skip cable but live on phones and tablets, are the target. By giving every team at least two national appearances, the NBA is fast-tracking new stars like Wembanyama and Edwards.

Beyond revenue, the deal cements the NBA’s status as the world’s second-largest sports league by media rights value, trailing only the NFL.

The NBA is on track to rival the NFL in media rights

This agreement positions the NBA just behind the NFL in global media rights value; the NFL’s 2023–2033 deal is worth $110 billion, averaging over $10 billion per season.

Comparisons across sports:

• UFC: Paramount’s 7-year, $7.7 billion deal is huge, but still dwarfed by NFL and NBA contracts.

• College Sports: Texas A&M’s 15-year, $515 million deal is historic for college athletics, yet tiny next to professional leagues.

• Golf: NBCUniversal’s U.S. Open extension pays ~$93 million per year, far below NBA or NFL levels.

While the NBA now boasts the world’s second-biggest media rights deal, it’s also making history culturally.

The NBA’s return to NBC also revives the cultural nostalgia of the 1990s. Picture the 1990s and early 2000s: Michael Jordan flying through the air, Shaquille O’Neal owning the paint, and that John Tesh “Roundball Rock” theme pumping through your speakers. Longtime fans get all the warm, fuzzy nostalgia; younger fans get to experience the magic for the first time. But this isn’t just about basketball nostalgia.

The NBA is basically giving other leagues, MLB, NHL, and even the NCAA, a sneak peek at how to handle their media deals when the time comes. If fans get on board with this multi-platform, every-game approach, we’ll probably see the same kind of split-up coverage, and new opportunities take over all of sports. But with all the wins come some losses, too, yeah, there are risks.

But every win comes at a cost…

All these wins come with trade-offs. More national games risk oversaturation, where the novelty of marquee matchups fades. Then there’s the cost. To follow every game, fans may need a subscription to Peacock, Amazon Prime, ESPN/Disney+, and a traditional cable package. For younger viewers used to free highlights on YouTube or TikTok, that financial barrier could push them away instead of pulling them in.

Ratings and partner pressure also loom. More games don’t automatically mean bigger audiences. If viewership doesn’t scale, media partners may question whether they overpaid, putting pressure on the NBA to rethink scheduling, exclusivity, or the number of national games. Players feel it too. More national appearances mean tighter travel, later tip-offs, and extra media obligations. The NBA mirrors the NFL’s multi-network model, but unlike football’s once-a-week rhythm, basketball plays almost nightly, making the strain on both fans and players sharper.

Ultimately, the NBA is wagering that more games will translate to more fans and more revenue — but if volume dilutes value, the strategy could backfire. So the question remains: will fans love having basketball every night… or start missing when it felt special?