The NBA signed an 11-year, $76 billion media-rights deal that started with the 2025-26 season. TNT — the home of Inside the NBA and basketball on cable for four decades — got matched out of the bidding. The new national TV map is Disney, NBC, and Amazon. On top of that, 13 teams lost their regional channel when FanDuel Sports Network shut down at the end of April. So basketball fans have a lot of rewiring to do in 2026.

Here is the plain version.

The new national rights, by carrier

Disney (ABC and ESPN): The top national package. The NBA Finals are on ABC in 2025-26 and rotate yearly. Christmas Day games, marquee Tuesday and Saturday matchups. Plus the new ESPN flagship direct-to-consumer service, which launched at $29.99 a month for the unlimited tier.

NBC and Peacock: NBC is back in the NBA business for the first time since 2002. Sunday Night Basketball, midweek packages, NBA Cup coverage. Peacock streams the same games at $10.99 a month with ads, $16.99 without.

Amazon Prime Video: Amazon has a Saturday-night package plus playoff games. Comes with a regular Prime subscription — $14.99 a month or $139 a year.

What about Inside the NBA? Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson moved to ESPN under a licensing deal. The show survived. The cable home did not.

The 13 teams that lost their regional channel

These teams had FanDuel Sports Network (formerly Bally Sports) as their home through April 2026. Now they need a new local broadcast solution:

For most of these teams, the league's planned centralized streaming RSN does not arrive until 2027-28. So for 2026-27, expect a mix of solutions: some teams will go free over-the-air in their home market (the Suns and Jazz pioneered this in 2023), some will sell direct-to-consumer streaming apps, and some will try to land on Fubo or DirecTV Stream through a one-off deal.

The Suns moved to KTVK in Phoenix, the Mavericks to KFAA in Dallas, and the Jazz to KJZZ in Salt Lake City. If you root for one of the affected teams, watch for an announcement of your team's 2026-27 local broadcast plan during the summer.

The regional channels that still exist for NBA teams

Several NBA teams still have a real regional sports network in 2026:

NBA League Pass for out-of-market games

If you live outside your favorite team's home market and want to follow them, NBA League Pass is the answer. $99.99 for the season or $14.99 a month gets you every out-of-market game. League Pass Premium at $22.99 a month adds no ads and a 3-stream simulcast feature.

Like baseball, league pass is blacked out for your local team's games. So it works for out-of-market fans, not in-market fans.

What you should actually do

If you root for one team and live in their market: Wait for the team's 2026-27 local plan announcement. If they go over-the-air, you need a $30 antenna and you are set. If they launch a direct-to-consumer app, expect $15 to $25 a month.

If you root for one team and live outside their market: NBA League Pass at $99.99 a season is the cheapest path.

If you want to watch national games every week (any team): YouTube TV at $82.99 a month covers ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT (TNT has no NBA games anymore but covers other sports). Add a $14.99 Amazon Prime subscription for Saturday-night NBA games. That stack covers every national NBA broadcast.

If you want every national game plus your local team: Fubo Pro at $84.99 is a strong default because it has the deepest RSN coverage among the streaming services. DirecTV Stream CHOICE at $114.99 is the only option that carries SportsNet LA for Lakers fans, but it's also the most expensive.

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Last verified: 2026-06-04 against live carrier and rights data. Streaming rights shift quarterly — we re-check every season.

Sources: NBA media-rights deal announcement (July 2024); Cord Cutters News on 13 NBA teams needing new TV homes (April 2026); ESPN reporting on Main Street Sports Group wind-down (April 2026); SPORTS-RIGHTS-MASTER.md (verified 2026-06-04); RSN-BLACKOUTS-REFERENCE.md.