NBA Streaming: How to Watch Basketball Games Without Cable in 2024 (2024)

Basketball fans now have more choice than ever to stream the NBA. Whether you’re a casual fan who only wants nationally televised games or a die-hard hoops fan who needs to see every dribble, there’s a streaming solution for you. The Streamable has been tracking NBA streaming options since 2017, and we’ve helped millions of people find the right provider. That means tracking every channel, every team, and every streaming provider to find the NBA games that are in and out of market. Don’t worry — we’ll walk you through everything you need to know.

The short version:

• To see nationally televised games, you need ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT
• For local games, you’ll need a Regional Sports Network (RSN)
• For teams out of your market, you should have NBA League Pass
• To get the most out of these, we’ve found DIRECTV STREAM is the best for the NBA

How the NBA is broadcast

The NBA starts with preseason games in early October before moving to regular season games on October 24, 2023. The league plays throughout the winter and spring. Each NBA team will play 82 games a season – 41 home and 41 away games. There is an in-season tournament November 3-December 9. All-Star weekend starts February 16. The 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament will take place from Tuesday, April 16 – Friday, April 19, followed by the start of the 2024 NBA Playoffs Saturday, April 20. Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Finals is set for Thursday, June 6.

To break things up, games are played on the national and regional level. For national games, you’ll find those on ABC, ESPN, TNT, and NBA TV. For games broadcasted only regionally, you’ll find those on a Regional Sports Network (RSN) like Bally Sports or MSG or on a dedicated team platform like the Phoenix’s Suns Live. For teams that you want to watch out of your market, you’ll get those exclusively on NBA League Pass.

What that means is that you’ll need a live TV streaming service (or two) to watch the games that you care about. We’ve tested all of them for the NBA and compared them against each other. We’ll outline the four ways that you should watch the NBA based on our experience.

What Services Offer Live NBA Games?

In the United States, there are four multi-channel streaming services that carry national and regional games, two streaming services that only carry national games, six regional-specific streaming services, and one service that offers out-of-market basketball games this season. These are four main categories of providers.

1. Multi-Channel Live TV Streamers with NBA

Why we like it: One subscription gets you a ton of basketball in one place. Catch supplemental coverage on channels like ESPN and FS1.

What is a multi-channel live TV streamer?
A multi-channel live TV streamer is like having cable access to all the best channels, but without an annual contract and doing it through the internet instead. Depending on the platform and tier, you will have access to dozens or hundreds of channels. And that is important when you want to watch all the channels that the NBA games will be playing on, especially because you can’t get many with an antenna.

The NBA’s nationally broadcast basketball games will appear on ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT. If you want to watch all of these channels, you’ll need DIRECTV STREAM or YouTube TV or Sling TV. (Of these, Sling is the cheapest by far, but ABC is only available in some markets.) As we tested these streamers, we discovered that DIRECTV STREAM offers the most comprehensive NBA coverage because it has every channel you might need. As for the other live TV streaming services, Fubo is missing TNT, and Hulu Live TV is missing NBA TV.

But that’s not the only reason why DIRECTV STREAM is the best option of the multi-channel live streaming services. When we tested this on our 4k Samsung TV, DIRECTV’s 4k picture quality was great. There wasn’t any extra lag in the stream and navigating the interface was much easier than Sling’s or Hulu Live TV’s. Plus DIRECTV STREAM allows up to 20 simultaneous streams in the same house – though, we only had four running at the same time. We only wish that DIRECTV STREAM supported multiview features so that we could watch multiple channels on the same screen at the same time (which is nice when there are multiple NBA games going on at the same time).

One additional aspect going for DIRECTV is that it has the longest free trial, coming in at 5-full days. When we subscribed through Fubo, their’s was only a single day; Hulu Live TV, Sling, and YouTube TV didn’t offer a free trial (Sling, did offer a 50% off discount, however).

With DIRECTV STREAM we were able to watch all the channels we needed for our favorite NBA teams. Combined with the streaming quality and free trial, this is why we suggest basketball fans to get this option. And you’ll like this option even more as we get into RSNs.

2. Watch Your Local Team With a Regional Sports Network

Why we like it: Not every game is going to be on a national broadcaster, so a Regional Sports Network (RSN) lets you keep tabs on your team even in the smallest market.

Each NBA team has a Regional Sports Network that carries its local games. As we tested every NBA provider, we found that this option is your best choice to track one team. In our opinion, DIRECTV STREAM is the provider you should choose for RSNs because it carries more team channels than any other provider.

• 14 teams are broadcast regionally on a Bally Sports station. Only DIRECTV and Fubo carry Bally Sports. Or you can go with Bally Sports+ if you don’t want other channels.
• 5 teams have their games on local NBC Sports channels. You can watch them on DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu Live TV, and YouTube TV, although DIRECTV STREAM lacks the Philadelphia station. Monumental Sports Network (Wizards) is on the same providers.
• Other teams are on independent channels, making them harder to stream. For Spectrum SportsNet (Lakers) and YES Network (Nets), your only choice is DIRECTV STREAM.
• 2 teams will require you to buy their standalone streamer to watch local games if you can’t pull the signal in with an antenna.

In nearly every case, DIRECTV STREAM is your best option for RSNs. Fubo is the second best. YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV may work in some situations, but their RSN coverage is weak. Unfortunately, Sling TV doesn’t offer regional sports networks. To view your teams’ local station, we’ve matched each one of them. Just use the dropdown menu here or at the top of the page to see where and when each team plays:

3. Individual DTC Team Streaming Options

Why we like it: Most teams make it easy to watch just their single games with a direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming option. If you only care about basketball, this might be a good option, though you need another solution for national games.

Nineteen teams offer direct-to-consumer streaming options. These could be helpful in supplementing another TV provider, but in our experience, the price isn’t worth it. Bally Sports+ goes for $20 per month and MSG+ goes for $30 per month. It may seem like you’re saving money, but you’ll be frustrated when you can’t see any nationally televised games – which happen at least once per month.

On top of not every team offering this option, if you travel out of your market often, you’ll lose access to your team games. This makes an option like DIRECTV STREAM even better, as we found that you can DVR the games you want to watch and then play those recordings whenever you want in any location. Bally Sports+ and MSG+ don’t offer a DVR option, but they do allow you to watch games the next day.

The only added benefit of going with a DTC option like Bally Sports+ is that you’ll get access to your local NHL team games too.

4. The Out-of-Market Solution

Why we like it: Whether your favorite team plays in another city or you just want to be able to watch as many games as possible, NBA League Pass gives you more basketball than any other service.

In our opinion, the best option to supplement true basketball fans is getting NBA League Pass. You can choose to see every out-of-market non-national game for one team or for the entire league. No other service offers as much basketball.

Follow one team for just $13.99 / month, watch the entire league for $14.99 / month, or watch games without commercials for $22.99 / month. You’ll save even more if you buy a full season pass. If you’re a die-hard basketball fan like we are, NBA League Pass is practically perfect.

NBA Streaming Service Comparisons, Pros and Cons

DIRECTV STREAM for NBA

When it comes to streaming, we believe DIRECTV STREAM does everything well. You have a huge channel list to choose from, there’s an unlimited DVR, and you can watch on lots of devices at once. It’s the simplest choice if you’re switching over from cable TV.

Important Included Channels: ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT, most regional sports networks
Missing Channels: NBC Sports Philadelphia

PROS:

• Best channel lineup
• Almost every regional sports network
• Only provider with RSNs for Nets, Lakers
• Unlimited DVR
• Stream on 20 simultaneous devices
• Free trial

CONS:

• Can be expensive
• May have more channels than you need
• Not ideal for 76ers fans

Sling TV for NBA

We love Sling TV if you’re looking to save money. You can choose the package that’s right for you, so you don’t have to pay for a bunch of channels you won’t use. When we tested Sling TV, we found it was prone to occasional glitches, especially on DVR playback. We also found the user interface to be slower and less responsive than some other streamers.

Important Included Channels: ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT
Missing Channels: regional sports networks

PROS:

• Least expensive option
• Flexible channel lineups
• 50% off your first month

CONS:

• Clunky UI
• No regional sports networks
• Limited DVR
• ABC not available in all areas

Fubo for NBA

Fubo bills itself as a sports-lover’s paradise, and that’s especially true if you like international soccer. When it comes to the NBA, you’ll get a wide range of regional sports channels, but the lack of TNT is unfortunate. One new workaround if you want Fubo is to pay for a subscription to Max, since that will include any games that air on TNT.

Important Included Channels: ABC, ESPN, and NBA TV, Bally regional sports networks
Missing Channels: TNT

PROS:

• Flexible channel lineups
• Stream on 10 devices at once
• Offers Bally Sports Networks

CONS:

• Expensive
• DVR limited to 1,000 hours
• Free trial is only one day
• No TNT makes it an NBA deal-breaker

Hulu Live TV for NBA

Hulu Live TV has a lot to offer with a great channel lineup and free ESPN+ and Disney+. It’s hard to get more bang for your buck. However, we don’t favor Hulu Live TV for the NBA. It does not offer NBA TV and you can’t access most regional sports networks.

Important Included Channels: ABC, ESPN, and TNT, NBC RSNs, Monumental
Missing Channels: NBA TV, most regional sports channels

PROS:

• Includes ESPN+ at no extra cost
• Unlimited DVR
• Hulu and Disney+ on-demand libraries are great bonuses

CONS:

• No NBA TV
• Missing Bally Sports Networks

YouTube TV for NBA

YouTube TV is a good all-around streaming option. It has lots of important channels, the user interface is the best in the live TV space, and the price is in line with its peers. We tested YouTube TV for several years and found it to be very user-friendly and reliable. It does lack the Bally Sports channels, however. You may also be frustrated by one-size-fits-all channel lineup

Important Included Channels: ABC, ESPN, NBA TV, and TNT
Missing Channels: Bally regional sports channels

PROS:

• Great UI
• Unlimited DVR
• Multiview feature

CONS:

• Channel package not as customizable as other services
• Missing Bally Sports Networks (the majority of RSNs)

Max for NBA

This year, Max is taking a giant leap forward by offering any NBA on TNT games. Those games appear on the new Bleacher Report Sports tier. This add-on is free to start the season, but will eventually cost another $9.99/month. Max would be a great choice for streamers who like Fubo as their main TV provider, since Fubo doesn’t carry TNT. Max is also home to a lot of great NBA-adjacent content like “Winning Time,” “Shaq,” “38 at the Garden,” “Kareem: Minority of One,” and “Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals.”

Important Included Channels: TNT (sports only)
Missing Channels: Everything else

PROS:

• Streamlined way to watch NBA on TNT
• Great movie library
• Excellent sports documentaries

CONS:

• Can’t see non-TNT games
• No help for regional sports networks
• Price for NBA access will shoot up on Feb. 29, 2024

Recap

If you’ve gotten this far, you can see that we’ve done extensive testing to find the best live TV streaming service for the NBA games in 2024. While most multi-channel streaming services offer NBA games this year, DIRECTV STREAM is the only one that carries all the channels that you want for your favorite team, including the most RSNs. For die-hard basketball fans like us, NBA League Pass is an affordable add-on to follow every team in the league.

But best thing to do before choosing is to check out your team’s broadcasting schedule. You can do that by looking at each team’s page in which we have collected everything you need to watch each of them: