NBA Signs New TV Rights Deal With NBC, Disney and Amazon, Ending Decades-Long TNT Partnership

Cue the “Roundball Rock”: The NBA is returning to NBC for the first time in more than two decades, with the pro basketball league signing a multi-billion dollar media rights deal with Disney, NBC and Amazon — a deal that ends the league’s relationship with Turner Sports and TNT that began in 1988.

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The new 11-year deal will begin with the 2025-26 NBA season, with Disney paying a reported $2.6 billion per year for the league’s “A” package to air on ESPN and ABC, which includes the NBA Finals, playoff games (with a conference final), weekly primetime games and more.

NBC — which last aired NBA games in 2002, covering the glory days of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and Shaq and Kobe’s L.A. Lakers — reportedly will pay $2.5 billion for the “B” package, which includes playoff games, two primetime windows per week on Tuesdays and Sundays as well as a Sunday Night Basketball program following the NFL season.

Amazon — which has also made inroads with the NFL by streaming weekly Thursday Night Football games — will pay $1.8 billion for a package that includes the NBA’s new in-season tournament, playoff games and international rights. Amazon and NBC will also alternate years broadcasting one of the two NBA conference finals.

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The deal also includes media rights for the ascendant WNBA, with all three broadcasters offering regular season and playoff games for the women’s pro basketball league. The WNBA Finals will be split, with five of the next 11 years airing on ABC/ESPN, three years on NBC and three years on Amazon.

Left out of the mix is Warner Bros. Discovery’s Turner Sports, which has broadcast NBA games for more than three decades and is the home of TNT’s popular Inside the NBA studio show with hosts Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. Warner Bros. Discovery attempted to match Amazon’s offer for the NBA’s third-tier package, but the NBA decided that their bid “did not match the terms of Amazon Prime Video’s offer.” That means the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season will be the last broadcast on TNT. There’s no word yet on whether the Inside the NBA crew will jump ship to NBC or Amazon to continue their coverage, but Barkley has said he’s retiring after next season and not moving to a new network.

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