ESPN Unlimited annual plan
(save $63.89)
Peacock Premium annual plan
(save $25.89)
Prime Video only
(save $6/month compared to Prime subscription)
NBA League Pass
A couple monumental things happened last NBA season: the New York Knicks brought home the championship for the first time in over 50 years and the league rekindled its broadcast partnership with NBC after 23 long years. This year, the season is tipping off with a triple-header on the network (and its Peacock streaming counterpart) between the Celtics and Pistons (3 p.m. ET), the 76ers and Knicks (7 p.m. ET), and the Thunder and Spurs (9:30 p.m. ET) on Oct. 20.
Watching the 2026-2027 NBA season requires the same streaming services as last season, at least for national broadcasts. Still, if you need a refresher or you’re new to watching basketball, getting your streaming lineup ready is no walk in the park. Between regional sports networks, blackout games, and national broadcasts, we have a lot to cover. Buckle up. Here’s your guide to watching the 2026-2027 NBA season, including all of the best streaming deals.
When does the 2026-2027 NBA season start?
The NBA season officially tips off on Oct. 20, 2026, with a triple-header on NBC and Peacock. The 82-game regular season wraps up April 11, 2027.
What channels do I need to watch live NBA games this season?
The NBA’s long-standing contract with TNT officially concluded prior to last season, with NBC taking its spot after two decades. The network and its streaming counterpart, Peacock, will air up to 100 regular season games on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights in the 2026-2027 season. There will also be several games exclusively streaming on Peacock.
Besides NBC, the NBA also struck up a landmark deal with Amazon last season. For the second year in a row, Prime Video is getting a slice of the basketball schedule. Prime Video will present exclusive global coverage for 67 NBA regular-season games, Emirates NBA Cup games, and the Eastern Conference Finals.
You’ll also need ABC and ESPN, as the networks will broadcast 80 regular-season games for the 25th straight season. Of course, you’ll also need access to your regional sports network, as in years past.
Here’s a breakdown of the general TV schedule for national broadcasts:
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Sunday — ABC and NBC/Peacock
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Monday — Peacock/NBSN
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Tuesday — NBC/Peacock
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Wednesday — ESPN
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Thursday — Prime Video
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Friday — Prime Video and ESPN (starting midseason)
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Saturday — ABC/ESPN and Prime Video
How to watch NBA games this season without cable
National broadcasts
There will be 247 national broadcasts this season, once again, with games airing on ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock, and Prime Video. Even if you have cable, you’ll still need Peacock and Prime Video in order to watch those exclusive games. No cable? No worries. Peacock has you covered with NBC broadcasts as well as Peacock exclusives, and ESPN’s Unlimited tier has you covered with ESPN and ABC broadcasts. You can watch nearly 250 games this season with Peacock, ESPN Unlimited, and Prime Video alone.
Local broadcasts
Unfortunately, national broadcasts only make up a small fraction of the full slate of games. Most games are broadcast locally via regional sports networks (RSNs), though many teams have started to move away from these traditional RSN models. Regardless, for these games, it will largely come down to whether or not the team you want to watch is in-market or out-of-market.
In-market games:
In order to watch in-market games, you’ll still need access to your team’s RSN or streaming counterpart this year. But here’s the thing: this might be the last year of RSNs. These regional sports networks are largely going bankrupt due to customers cutting the cord. Next season, look out for a centralized streaming hub that houses local NBA broadcasts of most teams. Until then, you’ll have to subscribe to your team’s specific RSN or streaming service for the 2026-2027 season.
DAZN signed on as a partner for the NBA this season, with the exclusive or digital local broadcast rights to 10 different teams. Prime Video has also acquired the exclusive rights to Hawks games, plus non-exclusively shows four other teams. If you’re unsure of what network or service you need to watch your team in 2026, see our FAQs below.
Out-of-market games:
If you’re a fan of an out-of-market team, you’ll need NBA League Pass. League Pass streams practically all regional broadcasts for teams that aren’t in your local market. For example, if you live in New York City, you’ll be able to watch every team via NBA League Pass except the Knicks and Nets. NBA League Pass costs $16.99 per month to watch on one device with commercials or $24.99 per month to watch on up to three devices with in-arena streams (no commercials).
The best live TV streaming deals for NBA games
Best for ESPN and ABC games: Save 16% on the ESPN Unlimited yearly plan
ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming service, launched last year, unlocks access to the entire suite of ESPN networks and services in one subscription. You’ll get to stream NBA games from ESPN and ABC (as well as plenty of other sports and leagues) in real time. It typically costs $31.99 per month, but if you commit to a full year, you’ll save about 16% or over $60. Of course, you can watch more than just NBA games, making the yearly plan worth it, particularly for fans of multiple sports.
Best for NBC and Peacock games: Save 17% on Peacock annual subscription
When Peacock isn’t running any sort of special (which it does a few times per year — keep an eye out around Black Friday), the best Peacock deal for most people on any given day is the annual subscription plan. When you pay upfront for the year, you’ll end up getting 12 months for the price of 10. A monthly subscription with ads usually costs $12.99 per month (which adds up to $155.88), but paying upfront drops that price to only $129.99 (which breaks down to $10.83 per month). That’s a total savings of 17%.
The Peacock Premium Plus plan costs $199.99 per year (which breaks down to about $16.67 per month instead of $19.99) and offers ad-free content. Live sports, however, will still include ads. If you’re subscribing to Peacock specifically for NBA games, you might as well go for the cheaper option.
More Peacock deals:
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Free Peacock Premium for eligible Xfinity customers
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Free Peacock Premium for Instacart+ subscribers
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Free Peacock Premium for Walmart+ subscribers
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Students save $6/month on one year of Peacock Premium
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First responders, medical professionals, military personnel, and teachers save $5/month on Peacock Premium
Best for Prime Video games: Save $6 per month on Prime Video only
If you’re only interested in Prime Video for the NBA games, you probably don’t care about all the extra perks of being a Prime member. In that case, you don’t need to pay $14.99 per month for Prime. You can simply subscribe to Prime Video as a standalone service for only $8.99 per month instead and save yourself $6 per month.
Of course, Amazon makes it unnecessarily complicated to sign up for Prime Video on its own. When you go to sign up for a subscription, be sure to select the option to “see more plans” or “change plans.” Then, navigate to the option for Prime Video on its own. You can still cancel whenever you want, just as you would a full Prime membership.
More Prime Video deals:
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Save 22% on an Amazon Prime annual membership
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Students save $7.50 per month with Prime for Young Adults
Best for out-of-market games: Save over 40% on NBA League Pass annual subscription
Similar to NFL’s Sunday Ticket, minus the outrageous fee, NBA League Pass gives fans access to live out-of-market games. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy games from the NBA’s archive, analysis, documentaries, highlights, and more. Local games on NBA TV, as well as nationally broadcast games, will be blacked out live. You can tune into locally blacked-out games three days after the live broadcast and nationally broadcast games three hours after. It costs $16.99 or $24.99 per month, but if you pay for the whole season upfront, it’ll only cost you $109.99 or $159.99. The more expensive option unlocks ad-free viewing and the ability to stream on three devices at once.
Source: https://mashable.com/entertainment/how-to-watch-nba-games-2026
