How to Stream Live NBA Games Without Cable For 2020-21 Season – And What’s New for NBA Fans in Streaming

What’s New for the 2020-2021 NBA Season?

• You can stream 30 NBA teams locally with Live TV Streaming Service for the first time
• YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, fuboTV and Sling TV no longer carry Sinclair-owned Fox Sports/Bally Sports RSNs
• fuboTV now streams ESPN and ABC, but no longer carries TNT
• NBA League Pass now offers offline viewing, but now only includes 1-2 simultaneous streams

If you Live in the Same Market as Your Favorite Team

The NBA season is finally here — and for basketball fans without cable, it’s become a little more complicated to figure out how to stream games.

While for the first time all 30 NBA teams are available to stream without cable, most of those teams are now only available with just one option. The best option for you will depend on whether you want to watch local in-market games and what team you follow.

Our Pick

Sling TV

You’ll get ESPN, TNT, NBA on ABC (on ESPN3), and NBA TV (+$10)

For those that just want to watch nationally televised games it’s simple. There are six major streaming providers that offer Live TV Streaming of channels like ABC, ESPN, TNT, ESPN3 (which simulcast ABC games), and NBA TV.

These allow you to watch games live using iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and Web.

Starting at ~$25 a month, it’s an inexpensive way to stream NBA games without having to commit to a cable subscription. When the season is over, you can cancel your subscription and save some money during the offseason.

National Telecasts

ABC, ESPN & TNT

Most services include ABC, ESPN, and TNT in their basic plan. Games that air on ABC, also stream on ESPN3.

ESPN and ABC will feature more than 50+ live regular season games, in addition to up to 44 NBA Playoff games, including the NBA Finals.

Since the NBA has only released part of their schedule, currently ESPN is scheduled to broadcast ~40 of those games, with the remaining 9 ABC — mostly on Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons, in addition to Christmas Day.

TNT will feature more than 40 regular season games including an opening night doubleheader. The Golden State Warriors will face the Brooklyn Nets, while the LA Clippers will take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

In addition to the regular season games, TNT will be the home to the NBA All-Star Game and more than 40 NBA Playoffs games including the entire NBA Western Conference Finals.

You will either be able to stream these games with your streaming service or by authenticating with your credentials in the Watch TNT App or Watch ESPN App.

NBA TV

NBA TV will broadcast more than 60 non-exclusive telecasts this season. For the general basketball fan, this is a good option to see teams that play outside of your home market.

You won’t be able to watch your local team though, as games of teams in your local market will be blacked out if the game is also being broadcast on your local RSN.

At $40 a month, Sling TV is most comprehensive package for the sports fan who also wants NBA TV. Neither AT&T TV NOW and Hulu Live TV offer NBA TV.

Regional Telecasts

Regional Sports Networks

If you live in the same market as your favorite team, most of the games will be on a local regional sports network. You can stream all 30 NBA teams locally on Live TV Streaming Services.

Our Picks

However, since YouTube TV, Hulu Live TV, fuboTV and Sling TV have all dropped Sinclair-owned Fox Sports RSNs your options are limited.

For the 16 of the 30 teams that are on Fox Sports RSNs (soon to be Bally Sports), you will need to subscribe to AT&T TV NOW's Max Plan ($80). It is certainly more expensive than the others, but it does also include HBO Max ($15 value).

Some Fox Sports RSNs like Fox Sports Indiana and Fox Sports New Orleans will require you to use the Fox Sports App to stream the games by authenticating with your AT&T TV NOW credentials.

They are also the only service that carries Denver Nuggets (Altitude), Los Angeles Lakers (Spectrum SportsNet), and Utah Jazz (AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain) games in your local market.

With other teams you have more options:

• fuboTV is the least expensive way to stream MSG (Knicks) and AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Rockets)
• NBC Sports RSNs are carried by nearly all of the Live TV Streaming Services like fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV
  In Canada, we suggest checking out Sportsnet NOW for 100+ NBA games including 42 Toronto Raptors games this season.

Since every service doesn’t carries every RSN, the handy chart below shows which teams are available on each service. Click on the team name to see the full schedule and which games you’ll be able to watch with each provider.

Overflow Channels

Some games that appear on overflow channels may require you to watch on Fox Sports Go or NBCSports App.

TBD

All Live Streaming Options

You can stream live NBA games with Hulu Live TV, fuboTV, Sling TV, AT&T TV NOW, and YouTube TV.

If you Live in a Different Market as Your Favorite Team

NBA League Pass

If you live away from your favorite team, you can still catch nearly every game. The NBA offers it’s out-of-market package, NBA League Pass, for $200 to watch every team, NBA Team Pass for $120 for a single team, or $6.99 for an single game.

Fans can upgrade to NBA League Pass Premium ($250) which replaces commercials with an in-arena stream for $50 per season.

Just like last season, you will be able to select home or away broadcasts and watch multiple games at the same time. One nice addition this season is that you will be able to download games offline, so you can watch them even without an internet connection.

But there is a major downgrade this year if you planned to share your account with your family. Previously, all NBA League Pass accounts used to offer five simultaneous streams. Now, all plans, but League Pass Premium, offer just one stream. If you upgrade to League Pass Premium, you can stream on two devices at the same time.

NBA League Pass also includes the option to add NBA TV to your subscription — which is an additional $60 per season or $7 a month. If not, unfortunately, all games on NBA TV, in addition to TNT, ESPN, ABC, and local telecasts will be blacked out. You will need a Live TV Streaming Service for that.

Continuing from last season, fans can buy out-of-market broadcasts at the end of the first quarter ($4.99), first half ($2.99), and third quarter ($1.99). They also offer a 10-Minute Pass, which allows you to stream 10 minutes of any out-of-market game for just $0.99.

You can still subscribe to NBA League Pass through other providers. It is available through Amazon Prime Video Channels, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.

Amazon Prime Video is offering a Free Trial of NBA League Pass through December 30th.