The 2025-26 NBA season runs under the tail end of the present rights cycle. The new 11-year cycle worth $76 billion to Disney, NBC and Amazon begins with the 2025-26 season nationally but most of the redrawn structural changes are not visible until 2026-27. For this season the practical broadcast map looks much like the previous five seasons, with a small expansion to NBC and Amazon.
The 2025-26 broadcaster map
ESPN and ABC carry the marquee national-window slate. ABC anchors the Saturday primetime games and the NBA Finals through the 2025-26 final cycle on the Disney deal. ESPN carries the Wednesday and most Friday national windows.
TNT Sports carries the Tuesday and Thursday national doubleheaders, including TNT’s signature Inside the NBA studio show. The 2025-26 season is the last full season of TNT’s NBA rights under the legacy deal.
NBA League Pass at $14.99 per month or $99.99 per season carries the full out-of-market and league-wide slate, with limited local-blackout exceptions in each subscriber’s home market. League Pass is the streaming equivalent to the satellite Sunday Ticket model — out-of-market complete access, in-market access through other means.
Local RSNs carry the in-market team-by-team slate. The breakdown by region in 2025-26:
- Bally Sports for Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio (this group is in active restructuring as Diamond Sports exits Chapter 11 in 2025)
- YES Network for Brooklyn
- MSG Network for New York Knicks
- NESN is not an NBA RSN (NESN is Red Sox and Bruins); the Boston Celtics are on NBC Sports Boston
How to plan a season
The minimum subscription footprint to watch every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday national window:
- ESPN/ABC: linear cable, YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, or the standalone ESPN streaming service
- TNT Sports: linear cable, YouTube TV, Hulu+Live TV, or Max with the B/R Sports add-on
- League Pass: $99.99 for the season for out-of-market
Subscribers who only care about a single team are best served by League Pass with the single team option at $69.99 for the season, which carries every out-of-market game for one team and provides the cheapest single-team complete-season package.
The 2025 cycle handover
The 2025-26 season is the final season before TNT’s rights expire and the package moves to NBC and Amazon Prime Video for the 2026-27 cycle. The TNT studio team is broadly expected to continue under Amazon’s umbrella, but contracts are still in flux through summer 2026.
For now, the 2025-26 plan is the legacy plan. The 2026-27 broadcast map will be redrawn before the next season tips off.